


Be Your Hero

by southernbellesoccer



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-03-29 10:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3892600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/southernbellesoccer/pseuds/southernbellesoccer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Officer Ashlyn Harris meets a troubled boy and helping him might lead to something bigger than she ever imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm Officer Harris

**Author's Note:**

> Something new that I have almost completely written. Hope you enjoy. Shouldn't be a ton of chapters but the chapters are kind of long. Enjoy :)

It was late February in D.C, the weather had just gotten pretty enough where Ashlyn was enjoying her job patrolling the streets again. 

The 25 year old was currently a police officer for the Metropolitan Washington D.C. area, she had gone into the Navy as soon as she graduated high school. At first it was a way to pay for college and was only going to serve the minimum three years, but three turned into six and she finally finished her service at the age of 24, having obtained a criminal justice degree and reached to the rank of E-5, Petty Officer 2nd Class. She had outstanding reviews coming from Norfolk Navy Base and the D.C Police Force was happy to take her on. 

Her partner, Henry Nickels, was out sick with the flu this week, which left Ashlyn on rounds giving out parking tickets. She had just placed a parking ticket on a car that she had given a ticket to the day before when she spotted a boy, no more than the age of 13 or 14, walk past her with his backpack on and it was during a school day. Ashlyn glanced around to see if a parent might be with him but she didn’t see anyone. 

“Hey, kid!” Ashlyn called out.

A set of brown eyes turned and locked on hers before going wide and he took off running. Officer Harris didn’t hesitate to run after him, she knew her long legs could outrun some little kid. When she finally caught up with him, she, of course, didn’t try to tackle him, instead she stepped into stride beside him as they continued to run down the street,

“Hey, kid. Let’s stop running so I can talk to you for a second.” 

The boy shook his head and tried to pick up his pace and outrun the officer. 

Ashlyn rolled her eyes and finally reached out grabbing the boy’s shoulder and stopping him. “What’s your name?” Ashlyn asked as they came to a halt. 

“Caleb.” He answered softly, looking down at his shoes.

“What’s your last name, Caleb?” she asked as she pulled her pad out and began to take notes. 

“Krieger. Caleb Krieger.”

“And how old are you?” 

“12.”

“Are you by yourself?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” He answered quietly.

Ashlyn sighed and bent down to his eye level. “Why aren’t you at school?” 

The kid shrugged and Ashlyn sighed, it wasn’t terribly unusual to find kids roaming the streets because they had skipped school and were just trying to waste time before they could go home. 

“Alright, why don’t me and you head back to the station and I’m going to call your parents to come pick you up.” She said as she placed a gentle hand on the boy’s shoulder and led him to the police cruiser. She let him sit in the front and showed him all of the bells and whistles of the cop car as they drove back to the station. 

“What’s your mom’s phone number?” Ashlyn asked as she showed the boy to the extra chair that she had by her desk. She reached into the drawer and pulled out a pack of Oreos and tossed them to the kid before picking up the phone to call the kid’s parents. 

Caleb rattled off a phone number that Ashlyn dialed. As is was ringing, she asked for his mom’s name.

“Ali Krieger.” He responded through an Oreo that he had shoved in his mouth. 

“Hello?” A woman’s voice came through the phone, she sounded like she was in a busy place with all of the sound around her. 

“Yes, this is Officer Krieger from the D.C. Police Department. Am I speaking to Ali Krieger?” 

“Yes. What’s wrong?” the woman responded with worry laced in her voice. 

“Nothing is exactly wrong, ma’am, but I have your son, Caleb, down here. He was caught skipping school today.”

“Shit.” Ashlyn heard the woman mumble before taking a deep breath. “Ok. I’ll be right there. Thank you.” 

“No problem.” Ashlyn said before hanging up the phone. She then turned to the boy. “You think you’re going to be in trouble?” Ashlyn asked him to try and start conversation.

Caleb shrugged. “I don’t know. She was busy, so probably.”

Ashlyn couldn’t believe how nonchalant the kid was being about the whole thing. She knows that if she had ever pulled a stunt like skipping school then her parents would have torn up her ass for it.

“Well she sounded busy on the phone. I would start with apologizing when she gets here.” Ashlyn suggested.

“Ok.” He said and then reached into his backpack to pull out a Nintendo DS. 

Ashlyn sighed as she stood from her chair. “Stay here until she gets here. I’m going to go work the front desk.” She said and left Caleb playing his game, completely ignoring the blonde.

Twenty minutes later a young woman came rushing into the station with a frantic look on her face. She quickly spotted Ashlyn at the front desk and went to her. As Ashlyn watched the girl approach she couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. Her face looked slightly familiar and Ashlyn was still trying to place why she looked familiar when the woman began to talk, “Hi, I’m Ali Krieger. I got a phone call-”

“I’m Officer Harris. I was the one to call you about your son.” Ashlyn interrupted, although looking at the woman she would had never guessed that she had a 12 year old son, she was easily younger than the blonde officer.

“Actually, he’s my little brother.” Ali corrected her.

Ashlyn’s eyes went wide, of course she shouldn’t have trusted that little brat to actually give her his mom’s phone number. “I’m sorry about that. I asked for his mom’s number and he gave me yours.”

“Well, I have custody of him. My parents died a few months ago. I’m a junior at Georgetown University and I had to move him here from Florida.” 

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Ashlyn replied as she let her frustration with the boy ease a little bit. Ashlyn wanted to make conversation with the woman by saying that she was also from Florida but felt it was inappropriate at the moment. 

“Thank you. It turns out my brother is a little bit more of a handful than I anticipated.” The brunette joked with a small laugh and tucked some hair behind her ear. 

Ashlyn melted a little at the woman’s laugh. “Yeah. He is a handful.” Ashlyn agreed.

Ali groaned. “Don’t tell me he was an ass to a police officer too?” 

Ashlyn chuckled. “He was a little better after I caught him when he tried to run from me.”

Ali rolled her eyes. “Oh, he’s gonna get it now. Mind showing me to him?” 

“Of course. Right this way.” Ashlyn said as she came out from behind the desk to show Ali to the back room where Caleb was still sitting at Ashlyn’s desk playing his game.

Ali spotted her brother and went over to him. Ashlyn made sure to stand back to let them have a moment, but she could clearly hear the brunette woman as she started fussing at her younger brother. 

“What the hell were you thinking, Caleb!? Skipping school? Running from a police officer?”

“I don’t like school.” The boy retorted. 

“I don’t care if you don’t like it. You still have to go. I have to go to school and you have to go school. That’s how this thing works. I was about to walk into class when I get a call from the police station. So once again I had to miss class. Just like last month when you got suspended for three days, and just like last week when you said you were sick. I can’t keep missing my classes because you don’t want to go to school!” 

“I don’t like it here! I want to go home! I want to go back to my friends and my old school!” Caleb finally yelled back at her, with tears starting to form in his eyes. 

Ali sighed. “This is home, Caleb. This is where you and I are going to live for at least the next couple of years until I graduate. I need you to accept that.” She said calmly. 

“Then I want to go live with Kyle!” 

“Kyle can’t take care of you right now, sweetheart. You have to stay with me.” Ali explained softly.

“I don’t want to stay with you. I HATE YOU!” he yelled before grabbing his backpack and storming out towards the door that led to the parking lot. 

Ali sighed and turned around to find Ashlyn standing there. “I’m sorry about that.” The brunette said. “Thanks for catching him today, but I better run after him or I’ll lose him.”

“Of course.” Ashlyn nodded with a small smile and watched Ali run after her little brother.

“She was hot.” Jones said from his desk that was beside Ashlyn’s.

Ashlyn shook her head and then sat down at her desk to begin some paperwork. “Shut up. She’s in college.”

“Even better.” He said with wink and went back to what he was doing.

~~ One Week Later ~~ 

“Did I miss a lot while I was out?” Nickels asked his partner as they sat in a diner eating their hamburgers.

Ashlyn shrugged. “Not really. But I don’t like being stuck on parking ticket duty because I don’t have a partner. Try to stop getting sick.”

Henry scoffed and threw a French fry at the blonde officer. “Tell that to my kid who keeps bringing home germs from school.”

Ashlyn just laughed and picked up the fry and ate it. “How is the little princess?” 

“She’s fine. She’s even convinced Sarah to sign her up for some soccer camp that Georgetown’s women’s team is hosting at the beginning of the summer.”

“They have soccer camps for six year olds?!” Ashlyn asked in astonishment, the blonde had played in high school but she always knew she wanted to go into the Navy and then become a cop so she never took it very serious. 

“Yeah. I mean, it’s like a day camp. Nothing too strenuous. But it did cost a lot.”

Ashlyn chuckled. “I imagine.” 

They were almost finished eating when they had a call over their radios. Apparently some kid tried to steal a video game from a store. Ashlyn rolled her eyes and responded that they would take it because they were only a block away. 

“See this is the kind of shit I don’t miss when I’m sick. I can do without this stuff.” Nickels huffed as they walked through the doors of the videogame store. 

The owner was standing at the front and had a boy sitting in a chair in front of him. “Can we help you, Sir?” Henry asked.

The owner turned to face them and the boy’s face was revealed. Ashlyn immediately recognized him, it was hard to forget that face when he looked so much like his older sister’s. 

“Caleb?” Ashlyn said in disbelief. Skipping school was one thing but trying to steal from a store was completely different.

“Hi, Officer Harris.” Caleb said as he hung his head.

Henry looked between the two. “You two know each other?”

Ashlyn shrugged. “He was lost last week. I helped him find his older sister.” The blonde lied, she didn’t want to say anything in front of the store owner that would paint Caleb as a bad kid when there was a chance he could still get out of this. “What exactly happened?” Ashlyn asked the store owner as she motioned for the three adults to step away from Caleb so they could talk privately.

“I was busy with a customer at the counter. I looked up and saw this kid trying to sneak the game into his jacket.”

Ashlyn nodded. “I see. And did you have any problem getting him to stop?” 

“No, he seemed pretty terrified when I called him out on it. Look, I can see that he’s a pretty young kid. I don’t want to get him into any serious trouble. I just want to make sure his parents know what happened so they can take care of it. I called you all to put some fear into him. I don’t want to press charges.”

Ashlyn internally sighed with relief. She had no desire to tell the pretty brunette that she was giving her brother a juvie record.

“We will make sure this is properly taken care of. Are you sure you do not want to press charges?” Nickels asked the owner. 

Ashlyn want to kick her partner for asking that, but luckily the owner insisted that he just wanted Caleb to realize that this was a bad choice and shouldn’t do it again. 

The two officers told the store owner goodbye and then headed over to Caleb to take him back to the station. “Come on. You get to ride in the backseat today.” Ashlyn said as she motioned him over.

“Are you going to call my sister?” he asked as he walked with the two officers outside to the police car.

“Yep.”

“She’s going to be pissed.” 

“She should be. You tried to steal a video game.” Henry responded, opening the door for Caleb and watching him get inside the car.

“No, she’s going to be pissed that I’m making her miss class again.” Caleb responded.

Ashlyn cranked the car and began to drive off. “I think it’s safe to say that she will probably be pissed at both.” Ashlyn corrected him. “What time does she finish her last class?”

“2 O’clock. She is always home by the time the bus drops me off.”

Ashlyn looked at the clock and noticed it was only 12:30. “Ok, well you’re going to hang with me at the station until 2 O’clock then I’ll call your sister.”

Henry looked at the blonde like she had lost her mind but Ashlyn just ignored him. What neither of the two police officers noticed was the group of boys standing across the street grinning proudly as Caleb was put into the back of the cruiser. 

Once they were back at the station, Ashlyn led Caleb to one of the back rooms, telling him to get his school books out of his backpack and to start working. She then went back to her desk and found Henry looking at her expectantly. “What?” she grumbled as she picked up the coffee that he had gotten her.

“Do we run a babysitting service now? We’re just going to hold him until you call his sister at 2? And why the hell aren’t we calling his parents?” 

“Because they’re dead. His sister is in college. If she’s in class right now then she probably wouldn’t even answer her phone anyway. I’m just giving the girl a few more hours of ignorance before she has to come and deal with her kid brother.”

“Whatever, Harris. You watch the juvenile delinquent, I’m going to go write parking tickets.” 

Ashlyn shook her head as she watched her partner go. She looked back to the room she had left Caleb in and saw that instead of doing his homework he had put his head down on the table and looked to be asleep. 

Ashlyn groaned as she got back up and went into the room. Slamming the door closed behind her to announce her presence. 

Caleb’s head shot up and he looked at Ashlyn a little terrified. “You think it’s funny that you’re sitting in a police station right now after you got caught stealing shit?!” she yelled at him. “I tell you to work on school work and you think it’s ok to lay your head down and take a nap like a little 5 year old?”

Caleb shook his head no as his eyes remained wide in fear.

Ashlyn decided that the boy needed some tough love and had no problem giving it to him. “Look, I don’t know your sister well and I don’t know your relationship with her well, but do you really think your parents would be proud of the hell that you’ve been giving her?” 

“You don’t know a thing about my parents!” Caleb yelled back at her.

“I know they were good. I know you loved them. Otherwise you wouldn’t be doing this shit! You wouldn’t be acting this way if you weren’t so hurt by them being gone. So give your sister a break and straighten up. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to just go to school and stop stealing shit.”

“You don’t know what school’s like for me.” He mumbled under his breath but Ashlyn still heard him.

“Then tell me, or tell your sister. If you have a problem but you aren’t telling anyone then no one will be able to help you.” She advised.

Caleb didn’t look at her and didn’t bother to say anything. Ashlyn just sighed and left the room closing the door behind her.

As soon as the clock stuck 2, she looked up Ali’s number from last week and dialed it. She held her breath as she waited for the young woman to answer, Ashlyn really didn’t want to give her bad news again. 

“Hello?”

“Hi, Ali?” 

“Yes.”

Ashlyn could tell that Ali was trying to figure out where she knew her voice from. Ashlyn cleared her throat. “This is Officer Harris, we met last week.”

“Oh god. What happened this time?” Ali groaned.

“Caleb had an incident earlier this afternoon. He is currently being held here at the station. No charges are being pressed but I will need to talk to you once you get down here.”

“Of course. I’ll be right there. I’m so sorry.” Ali responded with worry laced in her voice, she figured her brother had really done something stupid this time.

“Take your time.” Ashlyn said before hanging up. She sat there for a minute before she had to satisfy her curiosity. 

She quickly logged on to her computer and went to the government database for Florida and typed in the last name Krieger. Ali had mentioned that both of her parents died a few months ago so Ashlyn figured it most have been some type of accident for them both to die at the same time. 

It took her a while to find the file but when she did she was immediately able to put the pieces together on why Caleb was struggling so much. Apparently their mother had cancer, she died at home naturally and when she died their father took his own life as he laid in the bed beside her. They were both found by their youngest son when he came home from school. 

Ashlyn looked at the date on the report and noticed that it was December 5th, it had only been about three months since their death. 

Ashlyn shook her head and turned around when she heard Nickels clear his throat behind her. “What are you up to?” he asked.

“I was looking up the case file on that kid’s parents. It’s kind of sad.” She said with a frown.

“You sure have taken a special interest in this kid. Have you called his sister yet?” he asked as he plopped down in the chair beside her desk.

“Yeah. She’s on her way. When she gets here I’ll take her to visitor’s room so I can talk things through with her. From what I can tell reading the file she’s only had custody of him for about three months, and he seems to be a bit of a handful. I’ll recommend her to some councilors for him and maybe some after-school programs he could get involved in.”

“Sounds good. Is that her?” Henry asked as he saw an officer lead a young woman through the door who was obviously looking around for someone. 

Ashlyn looked up and a small smile crossed her face. “Yep. That’s her. See you later.” She said before standing up to go to the woman. 

Henry just shook his head and went over to his desk across form Ashlyn’s. “Of course the sister would be hot.” He mused to himself as he started on some paperwork.

~~ 

“Hi.” Ali said shyly as she met the blonde officer for the second time under unfavorable circumstances. 

“Hey. Why don’t you follow me somewhere we can talk?” Ashlyn said as nodded her head for Ali to follow her. They get settled into a small room with a table and Ashlyn pours the brunette a cup of coffee.

“Thanks.” Ali said softly as she looked down at the mug and played with the handle. “So what exactly did he do?” Ali asked, cutting straight to the point. 

“He tried stealing a video game from a store. The owner caught him, but is not pressing charges.”

Ali’s head immediately dropped to the table and after a moment Ashlyn could hear the small sobs coming from the brunette. Ashlyn didn’t hesitate to pull her chair beside Ali and pull her into a side hug as she comforted her.

“I don’t know what to do anymore.” She said through a sob. “I’m 21 years old. I don’t know what to do with a 12 year old.”   
Ashlyn rubbed her back and waited until Ali dried her tears. “Do you have anyone who could help you?”

Ali shook her head. “Not really. My older brother, Kyle, is in rehab in L.A. He got into drugs and alcohol a couple of years ago. Shortly before my dad died, he had finally gotten him into a rehab program. When I had to tell Kyle that our parents were dead, he put himself back into the program so he wouldn’t go back to his old ways.”

Ashlyn took a deep breath. She couldn’t believe everything Ali had been put through the past couple of months. “I’m sorry to hear that. Look, I’ll be honest, I’ve read your parent’s case file, and I think your brother could really use some counseling. Even if he’s just going once a week. The YMCA also offers some great after school programs that would keep him busy and give him something fun to do.”

Ali nodded as she took in the information from the cop. 

Ashlyn didn’t want to overstep the boundaries but she wanted to help as much as she could. “Is money tight for you guys? Is that why he felt the need to steal the game instead of asking you to buy it?”

Ali shrugged. “We’re doing ok. My parents both had life insurance, and I sold their house and one of their cars. Kyle told me to keep all of the money because I would need it to take care of Caleb. I guess by a 12 year old’s standards he probably thinks I’m being a little stingy but it’s because I need to make the money last. I have a scholarship, playing soccer, but I don’t know how that’s going to work out now with Caleb. And then we have the apartment, which I can’t really have roommates or live on campus anymore because of Caleb so I’m paying for that. We’re technically doing fine but I am a little conservative with it. I don’t want us to be in a pinch before I graduate and can get a real job.”

Ashlyn nodded in understanding. “Ok. Well you might want to splurge occasionally on something fun for him, kind of remind him that he’s still a kid. Also, I think you might want to figure out a way that you could take him to school that way you can make sure he actually walks into the building. Obviously him taking the bus isn’t a sure way to make sure he doesn’t skip school.”

Ali bit her bottom lip nervously, “Yeah, I kind of can’t do anything about that. My first class is at 8 o’clock every day. I can’t get him there and then still get to my classes on time.”

“Ok, well maybe you could talk to the school and set up some kind of system where they inform you if he is absent so you’ll know whether or not he has skipped.” Ashlyn suggested. 

Ali smiled brightly, she hadn’t thought of that. “Thank you so much Officer Harris. I haven’t really had anyone to give me any guidance. It’s nice to have someone to talk through things with.”

Ashlyn gave her a small smile and had a small blush tint her cheeks. “Anytime. And call me Ashlyn. I feel like we’ve reached a new level here.” 

Ali giggled and stood from the chair. “Ok, Ashlyn, I think I can do that.”

“Would you like to see your brother now?” Ashlyn asked as she also stood.

Ali playfully rolled her eyes. “I guess so.”

Ashlyn laughed and guided Ali out of the room and towards the room Caleb was in. “Well, you can talk to him for as long as you want to in there but then you are free to go when you’re done.”

“Thank you.” Ali said as she reached out to give the officer’s arm a squeeze. “For everything.”

“No problem.” Ashlyn replied with a smile. “I would say that I hope to see you again but preferably not on these terms.”

Ali giggled. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you again either, but I agree that it should not be after you’ve taken my brother into custody.” 

They both laughed and Ashlyn opened the door to let Ali in and they both shared one last smile before Ashlyn closed the door to let Ali talk to Caleb in private.

As Ashlyn sat down at her desk she could see the smirk on Henry’s face. “What are you smiling at, Nickels?” 

“I don’t know what you’re taking about.” He feigned innocence as he went back to his computer.

Ashlyn just shrugged and went on her computer also.

“You seemed mighty friendly with the sister.” Henry commented after a moment of silence.

Ashlyn rolled her eyes. “Her name is Ali, and she’s nice.”

“Ok.” Henry replied with a smile still playing on his lips.

A few minutes later Ali and Caleb walked out of the room, Ali having a firm hand on her brother’s shoulder. Ali pulled them to a stop as they passed by Ashlyn’s desk. “Tell Officer Harris that you’re going to be staying out of trouble.” Ali demanded out of her brother.

Caleb rolled his eyes and looked to the blonde cop. “I’ll TRY to stay out of trouble.” He said emphasizing the word ‘try’. 

Ashlyn just chuckled. “I hope you do, buddy. And be good for your sister.” She said as she caught Ali’s eye and gave her a wink.

Ali blushed some. “Well we better get going. Thank you, Ashlyn.”

Ashlyn smiled and stood from her seat. “It’s my job, but I like being able to help. Let me walk you two out.” Ashlyn insisted and Ali nodded as they all walked out of the police station. 

Caleb didn’t hesitate hoping into his sister’s car. It was a fairly new, red, Buick and Ali quickly informed the blonde that it used to be her mom’s. Ali didn’t have a car so when her parents died she kept the newest one and sold her dad’s. 

Ashlyn just nodded and stood there awkwardly as she shoved her hands in her pockets. “I was thinking about Caleb’s skipping school problem. I had this idea and I was wondering if you might be ok with it.”

Ali smiled and leaned against the side of the car. “Ok, what’s your idea?” 

“I was thinking that my shift right now is from 9 am to 7 pm, and I wouldn’t mind picking him up and taking him to school each morning. I mean, I’m usually up anyway because I do my workouts in the morning.”

Ali giggled. “Is that so? I figured you worked out.” She said with a smirk.

Ashlyn chuckled and took a step closer to the brunette. “If I didn’t know better than I would say you were flirting with me, Ms. Krieger.” Ashlyn teased.

Ali shrugged. “Maybe I was. But I also can’t let you take my brother to school. That’s asking a lot of a police officer that I barely know. AND I pretty sure that wouldn’t be a part of your job.”

“You’re right. It wouldn’t be a part of my job, but if it keeps your brother out of trouble and gives me the option to get to know you then I certainly wouldn’t mind it.” Ashlyn flirted.

Ali’s face fell serious. “I really don’t want to ask you to do something that you don’t have to do, Ashlyn.”

“You’re not asking. I’m offering… actually, I’m insisting.” She then pulled her cellphone out and handed it to the college student. “Put your number in and your address. I’ll be by at 7:30 tomorrow morning to take him to school.”

Ali sighed as she took the phone and entered her information. “You’re sure about this?” Ali question as she handed the phone back to the attractive police officer. 

“I wouldn’t be offering if I wasn’t sure.” Ashlyn promised before giving her a wink and opening the car door for her. 

“Ok.” Ali agreed as she got in the car and Ashlyn shut the door, both waving at each other as Ali backed the car out and made her way out of the parking lot.


	2. Y'all Should Hook Up

“Caleb! Get up! You have to be ready for school soon.” Ali yelled as she walked past her brother’s room.

Caleb looked at his clock and groaned before lazily getting out of bed and heading into the kitchen. Ali was just pulling two pieces of toast out of the toaster when he sat down at the small table in the kitchen. “Why did you wake me up 15 minutes earlier than normal?”

“Because Officer Harris is going to be taking you to school from now on.” She informed her little brother and then set the toast in front of her brother. 

“You mean that blonde cop that you have a crush on?” 

Ali rolled her eyes. “I don’t have a crush. And that ‘blonde cop’ has kept you out of trouble twice, so be nice to her when she gets here. Don’t give her a hard time, she’s really helping me out.”

“Why can’t I just take the bus?” he asked as he shoved half of a piece of toast into his mouth at once.

“Because you have a habit of skipping school when I let you take the bus. Officer Harris will make sure you walk into the school building, where you will stay until 3 O’clock, like a normal child.”

“I’m not a child.” He protested with his mouth full of bread.

“You’re 12 years old and you act like a child, therefore I will treat you like a child. Now hurry and finish eating so you can get ready for school.” 

Is was about 5 minutes before 7:30 when Ali heard a knock on her apartment door. She ran to answer it but made sure to check her hair in the mirror first. “Hey.” She answered the door with a bright smile. Ali immediately took notice of the blonde when she noticed the officer wasn’t in her police uniform. Instead Ashlyn was standing in the door way, blonde hair in a tight bun, Nike shorts, full sleeve of tattoos showing, and a t-shirt dripping in sweat that had NAVY written across the chest. 

“Hey. Is he ready to go?” Ashlyn asked a little out of breath. 

Ali chuckled. “Umm, yeah almost. Did you run here or something?”   
Ashlyn chuckled as she continued to pant. “I just came from the gym so when I got here I thought I would add running up the steps to your apartment to my workout. I should have taken into account that you live on the 7th floor.”

Ali giggled. “Well ok, Miss Navy Seal.” She said pointing to her shirt. “Let me go get him.” 

Ashlyn looked down to catch what Ali meant and realized she was wearing her NAVY shirt. “Oh, yeah. Not a Navy Seal, but I was in the Navy.” Ashlyn responded.

“Impressive.” Ali said with flirtatious wink and then walked off to get her brother.

Ashlyn and Caleb were in Ashlyn’s jeep heading to Caleb’s school when Ashlyn noticed the boy staring at her arm. “What are you looking at?” Ashlyn asked with a chuckle.

“You have a lot of tattoos.” He commented. “Your uniform always covers them up.”

Ashlyn nodded. “I do have a lot of tattoos. I got most of them when I was in the Navy.”

“The Navy?” Caleb asks with a surprised look on his face. 

“What? You think I wear this shirt for show?” Ashlyn laughed and playfully reached over to shove the kid’s arm.

Caleb blushed and looked down. “No.” he mumbled and Ashlyn just smiled at him and the jeep was silent until they pulled into the school. 

Ashlyn watched a line of cars dropping kids off near the front door but Ashlyn decided she was going to approach this skipping school situation seriously. She parked the car and Caleb looked at her like she was crazy.

“Come on. Get out.” Ashlyn said as she turned off the car and opened her door.

“What are you doing?” Caleb asked, he looked absolutely mortified that the woman was about to walk him into school.

“I’m going to make sure you get to your first class. Then I’m going to go talk to your school principal. Now get out of my car.” She instructed before she started to walk to the front of school and didn’t even bother waiting on him.

Caleb slightly jogged to catch up with her once he had gotten out of the jeep and he kept his head down as they entered the school.

Ashlyn watched him go straight to his class room. She teasingly called out “Bye, sweetheart” just to make him blush and she laughed the whole way back to her car. She wasn’t actually going to talk to the principal about Caleb, she just wanted to make Caleb think that she did.

~~ Two Weeks Later ~~

“Caleb! Hurry up! Ashlyn will be here soon!” Ali yelled to her brother.

“I’m coming!” he yelled as he came into the living room right when there was a knock on their door. 

Ali answered to a smiling Ashlyn, but this time she was in her uniform. “Did you dress up just for me?” Ali teased her.

Ashlyn playfully rolled her eyes and leaned against the doorframe as she watched Caleb get his backpack together. “For your information, I’m going to Caleb’s school today with some other officers to speak at their assembly…Well, I’m not doing the speaking. I’m just there for demonstrations.” She informed the brunette. 

“Well, you look nice. Have fun with all of the middle schoolers.”

“Oh, I’m sure it will be torture but it’s a part of the job.” She said with a shrug. 

“I’m ready.” Caleb announced as he came up behind Ali. 

Ali moved out of the way so Caleb could get out the door, but not before pulling him into a hug. “Be good at school. I love you.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Love you too.” Caleb said with a roll of his eyes as he headed towards the elevator and left Ashlyn standing at the door.

“Guess that’s my cue to leave.” Ashlyn said with a small smile.

“Guess so.” Ali agreed. She leaned into the door a little more, just to see Ashlyn hesitate on her next move. Ashlyn glanced down at her lips but didn’t let her eyes linger long. She eventually stepped back and gave Ali one last smile before following Caleb. Ali sighed as Ashlyn walked off, it seems that she couldn’t get the cop to make a move even if she wrote it on her forehead. 

“You should just ask my sister out.” Caleb announced after a few minutes of riding with nothing but the radio filling the jeep.

“What?” Ashlyn chuckled and looked at the kid in disbelief that he had just said that.

“She likes you. I can tell you like her. Y’all should hook up.” Caleb stated matter-of-factly.

“Uh huh, and who would watch you if I took your sister on a date?” Ashlyn challenged him.

Caleb snorted. “I don’t need a babysitter. Ali could leave me at home for a few hours to go to dinner with you.”

Ashlyn laughed. “Yeah, that’s not happening. You do realize that there is a reason why I have to take you to school, right? You are kind of known for getting in trouble.”

The boy rolled his eyes. “I haven’t gotten in trouble in a week so far.”

“Oh goodness a whole week? Well that changes everything. I should ask your sister to go out with me every night this week then.” Ashlyn responded sarcastically as she pulled into the school’s parking lot.

They both got out of the car and Caleb got a few stares as he walked into the school with a police officer. 

“I think I’m increasing your street cred.” Ashlyn whispered to him as a joke.

“Whatever.” He mumbled as they walked to his classroom. 

“Alright, dude. I’ll see you later at the assembly and then I’ll see you tomorrow morning bright and early.” Ashlyn said as they stood outside his classroom.

“And you’ll think about asking Ali out?” Caleb questioned.

Ashlyn smiled at him and pushed him playfully towards his classroom. “Maybe.” 

Ashlyn was watching Caleb walk to his desk when suddenly his teacher came up to her. Ashlyn noticed her and quickly got serious. “Sorry, I was just dropping Caleb off. I’m heading off now.” Ashlyn explained as she stood straight in front of the older woman, who looked to be in her late 50s. 

“No, it’s ok, sweetheart. I’m Mrs. Greene. I noticed you dropping him off and I wanted to speak to you about him. Are you his mother?”

Ashlyn’s eyes went wide and she quickly shook her head. “No. No” Ashlyn stumbled out. “I’m a friend of his family.” Ashlyn loosely explained. “I just drop him off at school every morning. I’m sure you know about his tendency to skip school.”

Mrs. Greene laughed. “That I do. I really was hoping you were related to him though. I’ve been trying to get in touch with his parents for a while now.”

“Oh, well I could give his sister a message for you.” Ashlyn supplied.

“I was actually hoping to speak to his parents. I’m having some real difficulties with him.”

“You must not know.” Ashlyn said softly. “His sister has custody of him. His parents passed away back in December. It’s part of the reason he moved to D.C this semester.”

Mrs. Greene brought a hand to her heart. “Oh, that dear boy. That explains so much.” She sympathized. 

“It’s been rough. But like I said, I would be happy to give his sister a message for you.”

“Well, I’ve been sending notes home with him to give to a parent asking for a meeting. Caleb’s grades just don’t seem to be anywhere near where they were at his old school. I’ve looked at his transcripts. He had almost all ‘A’s in Florida but here he is a ‘C’ student at best. And as you probably know, he’s not always the easiest student to handle in class.”

“I can understand why you would like to talk to his sister. I’ll make sure to let her know.”

~~

“Hey, Ali.” Ashlyn said as she heard the brunette pick up her phone. Ashlyn had just finished the assembly and was driving to the station to start her duty for the day.

“Hey, Ash.” Ali said brightly, surprised that the blonde cop had called her.

“I caught you between classes, right?” she asked, making sure she didn’t catch Ali at a bad time. 

“Yeah. I’m just sitting outside wasting a little bit of time until my next class. What’s up?”

“Well, I dropped Caleb off at his classroom this morning and I got to talk to his teacher, Mrs. Greene.” Ashlyn started.

“And?”

“And apparently she has been sending home notes for a couple weeks asking for a meeting with you to talk about Caleb. If I had to guess then I’m thinking a certain 12 year old boy is hiding them from you.”

Ali giggled. “Is that your detective skills coming into play, Harris?” 

“You know it.” Ashlyn joked.

Ali laughed for a second before she got serious and sighed. “Well I guess I’ll make sure to email her to see about meeting with her.”

Ashlyn could hear the disappointment in her voice. “Hey, I know it’s kind of last minute, but do you have a free time for lunch?” the officer asked.

Ali was shocked that this was finally happening, she was sure that the blonde must have a girlfriend or something sense she hadn’t asked her out yet. “I’m free from 11 to 12.” 

Ashlyn smiled. “Great. My day is kind of thrown off by this whole assembly thing so I think I can get away for a quick bite to eat if you would like to join me.” 

“I would love too. Could you meet me somewhere close to campus? I don’t want to get to far away and risk being late to my 12 o’clock class.” 

“Of course I can. Just text me where you want to meet and I’ll see you there at 11.” Ashlyn insisted.

“It’s a date.” Ali responded before quickly hanging up when she realized what she had said.

Ashlyn just stared at her phone for a second before a big grin crossed her face. “Damn, the kid was right.” She muttered to herself.

~~ ~~

“Hey, Officer Harris.” Ali cheesed as she saw Ashlyn approach her at a café that was about a minute walk from the building Ali had her next class in. 

Ashlyn smiled and sat down in front of the soccer player. “Hi. How was class?”

Ali shrugged. “Ehh, it wasn’t so bad, but definitely not my favorite.”

“I know the feeling.” 

“Really? Did you go to college?” Ali asked surprised. She knew Ashlyn had been in the Navy so she just assumed she hadn’t gone to college.

“I did. The Navy paid for it. I did most of my classes online through the University of Virginia, but the Navy also offers classes that you can take for credit.” She chuckled. “I remember taking biology while I was deployed. Can you imagine cutting up dead animals in a confined space on a ship?”

Ali laughed. “That couldn’t have been pleasant.”

“It wasn’t. We had to take breaks every couple of minutes so we could get some fresh air.”

“What did you get a degree in?” 

“Criminal Justice. What are you studying?”

“Public Relations.” Ali answered and tucked some hair behind her ear.

“So, you’re originally from Florida?” Ashlyn asked, remembering that they haven’t talked about their mutual Florida connection.

“I am. Miami area to be exact. Came up north because I got offered a soccer scholarship. What about you? Are you from around here?”

“Actually, no. I’m from Satellite Beach, Florida.”

“No way! You’re from Florida? That’s so cool. Obviously I ended up in D.C because of college. How did you end up becoming a cop here?”

“I got stationed at Norfolk after my second year in the Navy, it’s about three hours from here. After spending four years in Virginia, I decided to stay up north but I wanted to go into a large city so I applied to the police force in D.C. I grew up in a small town, and then I basically lived on ships on and off for the past 6 years. I just wanted the big city experience.” 

“What made you join the Navy?” 

“It would pay for school. My parents aren’t poor but they aren’t rich either, ya know what I mean? So I decided the Navy wouldn’t be a bad choice. I grow up at the beach so I obviously like water. My dad was in the army until I was about 5 years old, and when I mentioned joining the Navy he thought it was a good idea.”

“What did your mom think? I’ve never known a mom to like the idea of their child going into the military.”

Ashlyn chuckled. “No she certainly didn’t like it, but I knew she was proud of me even if she was worried about me.”

Ali nodded in understanding and things got quiet between them. Ashlyn fiddled with her thumbs for a moment, she could tell that talking about parents had become hard for Ali. “You ok?” Ashlyn asked as she reached across the table to grab Ali’s hand.

Ali nodded. “I know you read their case file so at least I don’t have to explain it. It’s hard to talk about, ya know?”

Ashlyn nodded. “I understand. But if you ever want to talk about your parents, or your older brother, then you know I’m here to listen.”

“Thanks. But I rather not get into that on a first date.” Ali said sincerely.

Ashlyn gave her a small smile. “Perfectly reasonable.”

Ali gave her a gracious smile. “Good. So do you have any siblings?” she asked directing the conversation back to Ashlyn.

Ashlyn smiled, “I do. An older brother. His name is Chris.”   
……..


	3. Black Eye

“Good morning, sunshine.” Ashlyn say as Ali answers the door the morning after their lunch date. Ashlyn is holding a bag with some donuts in it and two coffees. 

“You’re here early.” Ali says with a surprised smile. 

“Because I wanted to surprise you with breakfast. Duh.”

Ali just giggled and let Ashlyn into the apartment. They sat at the table and talked while they enjoyed their coffee. About ten minutes after Ashlyn got there, Caleb wandered out of his room wearing only a t-shirt and underwear. It wasn’t until he reached the kitchen that he noticed the blonde police officer there and he immediately bolted back to his room, resurfacing two minutes later with pants on.

“What are you doing here?” Caleb asked bluntly as he sat at the table and reached to grab a donut. 

Ashlyn chuckled but Ali’s face quickly turned stern. “Caleb-”

Ashlyn held her hand up to stop Ali from getting on to the pre-teen. “I took your advice.” Ashlyn responded to him.

Caleb looked at her like she was stupid. “What advice?” 

“I asked your sister on a date. We went for lunch yesterday and I brought her breakfast today.” 

“Aren’t you like supposed to take her out for dinner or something?” the kid asked.

Ashlyn nodded. “Usually I would take a girl out to dinner, but then I started thinking about why you might want me to date your sister. It sure would take some of her attention away from you if she was going on dates with me. So, I decided that we would keep our dates around lunch so it wouldn’t take away from the precious time that you have with your sister.” Ashlyn teased him.

Caleb just rolled his eyes and grabbed another donut before carrying it off towards his room.

As soon as he slammed the door shut to his room, both Ali and Ashlyn started laughing. “That was great!” Ali said through a giggle. “Did he really tell you to ask me out?” she asked in disbelief.

Ashlyn nodded her head. “He told me that he could tell that I liked you, which was correct, and said that you liked me too. I knew what he playing as soon as he started it, but I also knew he must be telling the truth about you liking me or his plan wouldn’t work.” 

“Sounds like they should just promote you to detective.” Ali said with a wink.

Ashlyn shrugged. “I’m not sure about that. I’m just a specialist in teenage deception.” 

“It appears that way. So does your plan to only have lunch dates with me mean that we could maybe have another lunch date soon?” Ali asked as she bit her bottom lip.

Ashlyn had a huge smile spread across her lips. “Definitely. When are good times for you?” 

“I’m busy today, but tomorrow is good.”

“Ok, then we’re on for lunch tomorrow. Just text where you want to meet again.” Ashlyn said as she stood up when she saw Caleb come into the living room with his backpack on.

“Can’t wait.” Ali said as she also stood up and leaned up to press a kiss to the officer’s cheek.

Ashlyn blushed slightly and headed to the door. Caleb followed and yelled out goodbye to his sister as they walked out of the apartment. 

~~ 3 weeks later ~~

“Guess what? Guess what? Guess what?!” Ali squealed into the phone as soon as Ashlyn answered her phone call. Ashlyn and Henry were riding down the street and even her partner could hear Ali’s squeals through the phone. 

“What could it be that’s got you all excited?” Ashlyn asked in amusement.

“Caleb has been invited to a sleepover this Friday night. I even called the mom of the other boy to make sure it was legit and that Caleb wasn’t trying to pull something on me.” 

Ashlyn’s smile dropped as soon as she figured out why Ali was excited. The poor girl hadn’t had a free night since her parents died and Ashlyn had promised to take her out and do something fun the first chance that they got. They had been going on their lunch dates at least three or four times a week, and Ashlyn had even spent the last Saturday she had off taking Ali and Caleb to the movies. She really wanted to spend some more time with Ali but this Friday wasn’t going to work. “Shit, Alex, I have night duty from now on starting on Wednesday. I’m supposed to work from 7 pm to 7 am.”

“Oh.” Ali said and Ashlyn could hear the disappointment in her voice. 

“I’m so sorry, baby. I wish that I could take you out, but this isn’t stopping you from calling up the girl’s from your team and asking them if they all want to go out.” Ashlyn insisted.

“I guess not. I just wish they could also meet the sexy cop that I’ve been dating.” Ali mumbled sadly.

“And I wish I could meet them.” 

Ali sighed, “So when will I be able to see you now if you’re going to be sleeping during the day when we usually have lunch?”

“Well, I was going to run this idea by you. I will still be able to take Caleb to school and then I’ll go home and sleep after I drop him off. And I was thinking that I could start coming by your place before work and we could have dinner together.” 

Ali brightened up a little at the thought. “That actually sounds really nice.” She agreed.

“Perfect. Well I got to go, Al. But I’ll talk to you later.”

“Ok, be safe.” Ali said before hanging up.

Ashlyn put her cell phone down and noticed Henry looking at her with a cheesy grin. “What’s your problem, Nickels? Stop staring at me.” 

“I’m just amused by how smitten you are with the girl whose brother you’ve had to have in the back of our cruiser twice.”

“Shut up. Caleb is a good kid. I like him... and I really really like his sister.” Ashlyn said with a smirk.

“Whatever you say, Harris. Whatever you say.” 

~~ ~~ ~~ 

“So where is this new girlfriend of yours?” Heather, Ali’s teammate, asked as they all sat in a booth at one of the popular bars downtown.

“Not officially my girlfriend, and she’s on duty tonight.” Ali explained. 

“And how have things been with the little trouble maker?” her other friend, Sydney asked.

“Caleb has actually been a lot better the past month since Ashlyn has been around.” The brunette defender admitted.

“Probably because he’s scared his sister’s new girlfriend is going to put his ass in juvie.” Pinoe joked. 

Ali laughed. “That or he’s afraid Ashlyn would beat him up. I think Caleb is more intimidated by the fact Ashlyn used to be in the Navy then the fact she’s now a cop.”

“Navy? Oh please tell me you’ve seen her in a sexy uniform and have pictures to show us.” Carm begged.

“Sorry, the only uniform I’ve ever seen her in is her on-duty police uniform. She told me that she still has her Navy dress uniform but she’s only allowed to wear it on special occasions.”

“Well that sucks.” Carm pouted and crossed her arms. 

“Tell me about it.” Ali agreed with a blush. “So are you guys ready to start spring training?” Ali asked trying to start a conversation that didn’t involve her blushing about Ashlyn.

“Definitely!” Pinoe answered. “Aren’t you?”

Ali shrugged. “I actually need to talk to coach about leaving the team.” She admitted sadly.

“What? Why!?” Heather quickly questioned her. 

“I don’t see how I can do a season of practices and away games and handle Caleb. He’s kind of a handful.”

“Won’t Kyle be out of rehab by then? He can help you.”

“Kyle supposedly got of rehab two weeks ago and he’s made no move to contact me or come help me. I can only assume that I’m the one who is stuck with Caleb.” 

“This is ridiculous, Ali. Just get through spring training and see if Kyle comes around.”

“That’s not fair to coach. He needs to know whether or not he needs to replace me.”

“Just don’t make a rash decision, Ali. You’re an incredible soccer player and you deserve to be able to play your senior year.”

Ali sighed. “I’ll think about it. Let’s just have fun tonight!”

~~ Monday Morning ~~

Ali looked at her phone when she heard it ring with a text notification. She quickly glanced at it.

Ashlyn: Just send Caleb down when he’s ready. I’m waiting in my car out front.

Ali frowned as she read the message. She hadn’t seen Ashlyn since dinner on Saturday and was looking forward to seeing her this morning.

Ali: Why don’t you just come up, silly? I miss you.

Ashlyn: I miss you too but I’m really tired. I’ll see you soon. Promise.

Ali understood that Ashlyn was probably tired after working a 12 hour shift, but when Caleb was ready to go Ali decided that she would walk down with her brother so she could see Ashlyn.

Ashlyn groaned when she saw Ali walking out of the apartment building with Caleb and quickly began rummaging through her center console to find her sunglasses. She slipped them on right before the driver’s door opened and Ali stood there smiling at her. 

“Hey, baby.” Ashlyn managed with the best smile she could muster as she heard Caleb climb into the passenger seat on the other side.

“Hey, stud. I just wanted to see you. I really have missed you.” Ali pouted. 

“I missed you too.” Ashlyn replied.

Ali smiled and leaned into the jeep a little bit so she could give the cop a kiss. Ashlyn hesitated for a moment before finally giving in when she saw how soft Ali’s lips looked. The initial kiss wasn’t bad, it was when Ali tilted her head a little bit to deepen the kiss that Ashlyn winced. Ali immediately noticed and pulled back. 

“What’s wrong?” Ali asked confused.

“Nothing.” Ashlyn said as she quickly tried to pull Ali back in for another kiss before she could ask more questions. 

“Something is wrong, Ash. You didn’t come upstairs. You didn’t look super happy to see me when I decided to walk Caleb down. And I’m pretty sure you just winced while kissing me which isn’t something I count as pleasurable.” 

Ashlyn sighed. “I am happy to see you. I promise.” 

“Then what is your problem?” 

Ashlyn hesitated for a moment before reaching up to pull the sunglasses off, exposing her right eye that looked absolutely horrible.

Ali gasped and even Caleb made a sound at the sight of it. “What happened?” Ali asked as she reached up to cup Ashlyn’s face as she examined the bruised eye.

“Got caught up in trying to stop a bar fight last night.” Ashlyn admitted.

“Cool.” Caleb piped up but was quickly shot down by a hard glance from his sister.

“This looks bad, Ash. Did someone check it out for you?”

“Yes. We had to call an ambulance for one of the guys involved in the fight and they checked me out while they were there.”

“Good. You better come over as soon as you wake up this afternoon. I’ll make your favorite for dinner.” Ali insisted.

“Yes, ma’am.” Ashlyn agreed before sharing one more gentle kiss with Ali and driving off to take Caleb to school.

~~

As soon as Ali finished her last class she decided to head over to Ashlyn’s. She had signed Caleb up for a swim class at the YMCA so she knew she had until 5 o’clock to pick him up. She was honestly a little upset that Ashlyn had chosen to try to hide her black eye from her that morning. She knew that she wasn’t Ashlyn’s girlfriend yet, but she still thought she deserved to know when the blonde had hurt herself. 

Ali had only been to Ashlyn’s place once, and Ashlyn had left her in the car while she ran up to her loft to get something she had forgotten. She felt a little awkward just showing up there, but her worry trumped how awkward she felt.

The college student parked her Buick in front of Ashlyn’s building and walked in. It was a nice building and she found a list of names and loft numbers by the elevator doors and then went up to Ashlyn’s place. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door, hoping that she wasn’t waking the officer up to early.

Ali only waits a moment before the door opens but the woman at the door was not the blonde police officer. “Ummm, hi.” Ali says with a confused voice. “Is this Ashlyn’s place?

“Yeah, it is. She’s asleep right now though.” The woman said in a friendly tone with a smile.

“Umm, ok.” Ali said awkwardly, not sure what to think about the woman answering Ashlyn’s door.

“I’m Sarah. Sarah Nickels. Who are you?” the woman asked.

Ali let out a sigh of relief as soon as she recognized the woman’s last name was the same last name of Ashlyn’s partner. “Hi. I’m Ali Krieger. You’re Henry’s wife, correct?”

A huge smile spread over Sarah’s face. “I am, and I’ve heard a lot about you. You and your brother are about all Ash talks about when she comes over to our house. I can tell she really likes you.”

“Well the feeling is definitely mutual. I actually got to see her black eye this morning when she came to pick up Caleb and I was coming by to check on her.” 

“Oh, of course. Come on in.” Sarah insisted as she stepped aside. “I came over about 2 hours ago. Henry told me about how hard she got hit last night and I was worried that they just let her come home and sleep. I mean she could have a concussion for all we know and they’ve just let her sleep all day.” 

“Well she promised me that the paramedics looked at her.” Ali commented.

“I know. She told me the same thing when I came over here but the nurse in me couldn’t leave her alone.” Sarah said as she moved into the living room with Ali following her. 

As they walked further into the loft, Ali got to take in her surroundings. The place screamed bachelor pad. It wasn’t too big but it was definitely bigger than her apartment. Ashlyn had a tv that was big enough to cover about half of one of the walls in the living room and she had big leather couches and recliners. She had a bookcase full of dvds and on top of the bookcase held the only pictures that Ali saw in the room. One photo was a picture of Ashlyn and her family on the beach, another was her in full uniform standing on the deck of a huge aircraft carrier. Beside those was a picture of her and several other Navy men and women being recognized on the field at a Nationals’ baseball game, all in uniform. The picture that caught Ali’s eye the most and made her lean in to look at it closer was a picture of Ashlyn in her police uniform with a little girl resting on her hip, both with big smiles on their faces. 

Sarah noticed Ali looking at the photo and came up behind her, “That’s my daughter, Hannah. That photo was taken right after Ash came to D.C and became Henry’s partner. Hannah and Ashlyn hit it off immediately.”

Ali smiled at the photo before turning around. “She’s adorable.”

Sarah playfully rolled her eyes. “She’s a mess. Especially when you put her with Ashlyn. They’re actually curled up together in Ashlyn’s bed sleeping right now.” 

“Really?” Ali asked. The thought of how adorable that would be to see brought a huge smile to her face.

Sarah nodded. “I had to pick her up from school early to take her to the dentist. She insisted that she wanted to come with me to see Ashlyn instead of staying at home with her daddy. They’re in there if you want to take a glance.” Sarah said nodding her head towards the door leading to Ashlyn’s room.

Ali didn’t have to be asked twice. She immediately went to the room, to catch not only the cute sight but to lay eyes on Ashlyn to make sure she was ok. 

Ali slowly opened the door and spotted the two sleeping bodies in the bed. She could see Ashlyn’s face, black eye and all, but Hannah was curled into the cop and Ashlyn had an arm around her. Ali walked into the room a little ways, she wanted to get a closer look at Ashlyn’s face. Once she was satisfied that Ashlyn looked to be ok she walked back out to Sarah.

“I think her eye is a deeper shade of purple than what it was this morning.” Ali commented as she found Sarah drinking coffee in the kitchen. 

“It’s all a part of the healing process. I called the station earlier and told them Ashlyn couldn’t come in tonight. I spoke straight to her captain, and I know he won’t question my judgment.”

“You think it’s bad enough that she shouldn’t go to work?” Ali asked in concern.

“I think she can’t see out of it really well and she has a headache. I don’t think those two things go together when you’re a cop and you never know what might happen.” Sarah supplied. 

Things got quiet for a moment and Ali took a moment to think before asking Sarah a question that only a loved one of a police officer could answer. “Will I always worry about her as much as I do right now?” Ali asked. “Like, we aren’t even official or anything and I find my mind worrying about her when I’m in class. I’ve never dated someone who has to put their life on the line constantly.”

Sarah nodded in understanding. “I’ll be honest. It doesn’t get easier. It gets harder. The worry becomes different. You will worry different now as someone she is just dating then you will worry about her when she becomes your girlfriend. And, of course, I can’t speak for any type of future you two might have. But the worry of a girlfriend is different than fiancé, or wife, or mother of your children. With each step you take in your relationship your worry basically becomes worse, but for different reasons. In early stages, like girlfriend or fiancé, you have a tendency to worry about how YOU will handle it if something happened to your loved one. There is this shift once you get married where you are actually worried about your possible future and how it might not happen if something ever happens to them, and your worry becomes a little less self-centered and a little more we-centered. And then when you have children, it’s a constant worry for your children that they might grow up without their other parent. It’s a never ending cycle.”

Ali let out a deep breath. “Wow.” was all she said as she looked down at her hands that were clasped together in her lap. 

Sarah sighed. “Look, I don’t mean to be discouraging. I’m just telling you the truth. You’re young and you should know these things before you get into a serious relationship with a police officer. Your worry isn’t going to stop, and it’s not going to get any less. You will always panic when you see the police station calling you even if it turns out to be just Ashlyn calling to ask what you’re having for dinner.”

Ali nodded. “Ok. I understand.” She said quietly.

“I’ve scared you, haven’t I?” Sarah asked.

Ali shrugged and looked up to the woman. “I really like her. I’m not going to bail just because you told me it’s not easy. It’s just a lot to take in.” 

“That’s good to hear.” They heard a voice mumble from the door to the kitchen. Ali turned around to see Ashlyn standing there, with Hannah in her arms. The little girl had her head resting on Ashlyn’s shoulder and Ali thought it looked adorable.

“Hey sleepy head.” Ali said with a smile as Ashlyn walked over to sit down at the kitchen table with the other two women. 

“Hi.” Ashlyn said as she leaned down to place a gentle kiss to Ali’s lips while still holding on to Hannah.

When Ashlyn pulled back she rubbed Hannah’s back to get her attention. “Hannah, this Ali.” She introduced the little girl to the defender. “Ali, this is my beautiful little princess Hannah.”

“Hi, Hannah. It’s nice to meet you.” Ali said with a big smile.

Hannah was obviously still tired and only whispered out a small, “Hi” before laying her head back on Ashlyn’s shoulder. 

Sarah smiled at the three and stood up from her chair. “Well now that you’re awake and you have Ali here to babysit you, I think I’ll take my daughter and go home to fix Henry’s dinner before he has to go into work.”

“Thank you for coming over, Sarah.” Ashlyn said as she stood to pass Hannah to Sarah’s arms and gave the woman a kiss on the cheek.

“I called the station. You aren’t going in tonight so don’t even try. I’m sure Ali will keep an eye on you.”

Ashlyn rolled her eyes. “Yes, ma’am.” 

“Good girl. I’ll see you soon. Bye, Ashlyn. Bye Ali, it was nice meeting you.”

“Nice meeting you too.” Ali replied as she watched the mother and daughter leave. 

“She’s nice.” Ali said to Ashlyn once Sarah was gone.

Ashlyn smiled. “She’s awesome. Nickels is definitely a lucky man.”

“He is.” Ali agreed. “And Hannah is adorable.”

“Hannah is my best friend. She was too sleepy this time to really meet you but I hope she likes you. I got to have my two girls get along.”

Ali giggled. “So I’m one of your girls?”

Ashlyn blushed. “I mean, your conversation with Sarah kind of made it sound like you were in this. You are, right?”

Ali nodded, “I am. You’ve been great to me and my brother. Anyone who is willing to take on me AND my brother is somebody worth sticking around for.” 

“So does this mean you’re like my girlfriend?” Ashlyn asked.

“If you want me to be.” Ali responded by leaning in close to the blonde.

“I want you to be.” Ashlyn said before connecting their lips in a passionate kiss.

They made-out in the kitchen for a little bit until Ashlyn pulled Ali out of her chair and towards her. Ali didn’t even question it and straddled the cop easily. Ashlyn’s hands found their way under Ali’s shirt and she began tugging on it. Ali moaned into Ashlyn’s mouth and then slowly pulled away. “Baby, wait.” Ali said a little breathlessly as she put a hand to the blonde’s chest. 

“Too fast?” Ashlyn asked.

Ali shook her head. “No. Just right. I’m just making sure you’re ok to do this. Is your head ok?”

Ashlyn rolled her eyes and stood from the chair as she gripped Ali’s ass to keep her close. She practically ran to her bedroom with Ali squealing in her arms. She dropped the college student on her bed and then hovered over her. “Do you think I would have done that if my head wasn’t ok?” Ashlyn asked as she bit Ali’s earlobe seductively.

Ali let out a deep moan as she wrapped her legs around the blonde’s waist so their hips would grind together. “Ashlyn?” she said desperately as Ashlyn kissed down her neck and sucked at her collarbone.

“Yeah, baby?” Ashlyn asked as she ran her hand back up Ali’s shirt so she could massage her new girlfriend’s breast.

“Fuck me.” Ali demanded.


	4. Busted

“Where are you going?” Ashlyn whined as she felt Ali’s naked body slip out from underneath her arm.

“I have to go pick up Caleb. It’s almost 5 o’clock. I’ll pick up some dinner for us and be back. Promise you’ll be dressed before I come back with my 12 year-old brother?”

Ashlyn rolled her eyes. “I promise.”  
“Good.” Ali said as she leaned in to place a quick peck on Ashlyn’s lips after she had slipped her shirt on. “Take a nap or something while I’m gone. You have your forehead scrunched up like you have a headache.” 

“Ran out of Tylenol. Any chance you can pick me up some while you’re out?” Ashlyn called to Ali’s retreating form. 

“Consider it done.” Ali yelled back as she left to go pick up her brother.

Ali parked in front of the YMCA and sent a text to Caleb to let him know that she there. She was staring absentmindedly at the door when she saw Caleb come out of the building. But he wasn’t alone. He was with a group of about six boys but only one of them looked to be Caleb’s age, the others looked significantly older. She watched as they all said goodbyes and did some teenage, boy, handshake thing and then Caleb came to the car.

“Hey. Made friends?” Ali asked.

“Huh?” Caleb asked in confusion. 

Ali looked at his like he was dumb. “Umm the boys you were just talking to?” she said motioning her head to the pack of boys walking down the street together. 

Ali could see Caleb twitch a little in his seat. “Oh yeah. I know them from school.” He supplied his sister with an answer.

“They look a little old to be in middle school.”

“One of them is Gabe’s older brother and the rest are his friends. They’re cool.” 

Ali recognized Gabe’s name as being the boy that Caleb went to spend the night with a few days ago. She remembered having a nice conversation with his mother. “Ok.” Ali nodded and dropped the subject. “We just have to pick up a few things before we go to Ashlyn’s.”

“Ok.” Caleb said and looked out the window as their car passed his friends walking down the street.

What Caleb didn’t know was that Ali saw in her side mirror as the group of boys held up their middle fingers and looked to see Caleb just smirking as he focused on the road in front of them.

~~ 

“I think Caleb is hanging out with a bad group of friends.” Ali told Ashlyn as she climbed into bed beside the blonde after having changed into pajamas.

Ali and Caleb had packed an overnight bag real quick because Ali didn’t want to leave Ashlyn alone for the night. The cop had been acting normal but Ali didn’t trust her to tell her if she was actually still in pain.

“Why do you think that?” Ashlyn asked. She was leaning up against the headboard with a book in her hand. She held her left arm open so Ali would come and snuggle into her side.

“He was with this group of older boys when I picked him up from swimming tonight. I just didn’t get a good vibe.” Ali commented as she laid her head on Ashlyn chest and got comfortable in the bed.

“Well did you ask him about them?” 

“He said one of them was his friend Gabe from school, and the others were Gabe’s older brother and his friends from school.”

“Sounds legit. I wouldn’t worry about it right now.” Ashlyn said with a shrug as she closed the book she had open. “I can’t read that damn thing, it makes my head hurt.”

“Probably because you’re straining your eyes trying to read it with that bad right eye.”

“Whatever.” Ashlyn pouted.

“Aww you poor baby.” Ali said as she leaned up to kiss girlfriend’s pouted lips. 

“Seriously if I can’t read then what am I supposed to do to stay awake. I can’t sleep now and expect to be awake during the day and have a night shift tomorrow.”

“You could watch tv.” Ali suggested as she pointed to the television on the wall opposite of the bed. 

“But then that would keep you awake.” 

Ali giggled. “It doesn’t matter, baby. I could sleep through anything. Just turn the tv on and hold me while I sleep.”

Ashlyn reached over for the remote and turned the tv to ESPN before settling into the bed and pulling Ali close. 

She could get use to this.

~~ ~~ Two Days Later ~~ ~~

Ashlyn walks into Ali’s apartment with a bag full of Italian food from the place down the street. She greets Caleb who is playing a video game in the living room and then goes to set the food down in the kitchen. “Where is your sister?” Ashlyn asks after she notices Ali isn’t in the living room or kitchen.

“Her bedroom.” Caleb responds, not taking his eyes off the tv.

Ashlyn makes her way to Ali’s room and stands at the door waiting when she sees Ali is on the phone. She doesn’t want to eavesdrop but when she hears Ali say the name ‘Kyle’, she can’t help but listen.

“Kyle, I’m telling you not to come.” Ali insisted.

“But you just told me you’re quitting soccer so you can take care of Caleb. I can’t let you do that, Alex. Mom and Dad wouldn’t want me to let you do that.” Kyle responded.

“Look, it doesn’t matter that I’m quitting soccer. Caleb and I finally have a steady thing going. We are working it out. If you want to come visit for a week then that’s fine, but I’m still quitting soccer. There is no reason for you to leave L.A. You love it there and your friends are there.”

“Then let me have Caleb for the next school year. Let me bring him to L.A. and I’ll take him while you play soccer.” Kyle suggested.

“NO! I’m not letting you take Caleb. He is finally settling in here. It took him some time to find friends but he has some now. His grades aren’t the best but he's certainly not failing. And not to belittle your recovery, Kyle, because believe me when I say that I am so proud of you, but I don’t think taking care of Caleb would be a very calming thing for you to do. Its stressful and I don’t want it to cause you to have more problems.”

Kyle sighed. “I just want to help, Ali.”

“I know you do. And I appreciate it. I think Caleb could use a visit from his big brother, but I think it’s best if he stays here with me in the long run.” Ali said calmly.

“I understand. I’ll try to figure out something about getting there soon.” 

“Sounds perfect. I love you, bubba.”

“Love you too, B.” 

Ali hung up the phone and turned around to see Ashlyn standing there. 

“You’re quitting soccer?” Ashlyn asked in disbelief. 

“You were eavesdropping on my conversation?” Ali challenged. 

Ashlyn rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. “I don’t think that’s important right now. Why haven’t you talked to me about this?”

“I’ve mentioned it!” Ali yelled out.

“Theoretically! We could work something out, Alex.” 

“Like what?! You already take Caleb to school every morning. You’re my girlfriend, Ashlyn, I don’t want to constantly be asking you for help when I can’t give anything in return!”

“Exactly! I’m your girlfriend. I really like you, Ali. Hell, I might be falling in love with you. You don’t have to give me anything in return. You just have to accept that I want to be here to help you.”

“How could we possibly make it work?” Ali asked. “I’d have away games and early morning practices. It would be hard, Ash.”

“I could ask my captain to not give me night shifts during your season, and I think that’s a reasonable request. We make sure that Caleb is involved in afterschool activities at the YMCA like he is now. And I spend the night here when you have early practices or when you have to be gone for games so I can take care of Caleb.”

“And what if something happens and we break up?” Ali asked in a quiet voice.

Ashlyn didn’t say anything for a minute and then she finally looked at Ali. She tilted the brunette’s chin up to make sure she looked her in the eyes. “I’m not breaking up with you, Alex. You can’t get rid of me easily. I spent 6 years in the Navy avoiding serious relationships because I put my job first. But I’m putting you first, Ali. Let me put you and our relationship first.”

Ali had a single tear run down her face and Ashlyn reached up to wipe it away. “Ok, Alex?”

Ali nodded. “Ok.” She whispered before connecting her lips to Ashlyn’s. 

Ashlyn smiled into the kiss then pulled back. “So my little defender isn’t quitting soccer, right? I already told Nickels that him, Sarah, and Hannah better be ready to go to your games with me in the fall.”

“Looking forward to it. But what about spring training? It starts next week.”

“Morning or afternoons?” 

“Afternoons.” 

Ashlyn thought on it a second. “Ok, I’ll make sure that I’m awake to pick up Caleb from the YMCA on the days he goes there, and I’ll make sure I sleep here on the days that the bus brings him home right after school so someone is here when he gets here.” 

“You would really do that?” Ali asked with a blush.

“I’d do pretty much anything for you, baby.” Ashlyn promised as she leaned in to kiss Ali again. The kiss quickly turned heated and Ashlyn leaned Ali back on to the bed.

Ashlyn was on top of Ali, kissing her neck, and had Ali’s shirt almost pulled over her breast when Caleb walked into the bedroom. “When are we going to eat din-” the boy stopped before he could finish his sentence and the two women heard him running from the room. 

Ali and Ashlyn both laughed as they sat up and Ali pulled her shirt down. “Guess we better go feed him.”

“Guess so.” Ashlyn said with one more quick kiss to Ali’s lips before standing up and heading towards the kitchen. 

Ali just watched her go and smiled to herself, “How the hell did I get so lucky?”

~~ ~~ two weeks later ~~ ~~

“Remember that when the school bus drops you off this afternoon that Ashlyn will be here sleeping. If you need anything she doesn’t mind if you wake her up.” Ali instructed her little brother as he got ready for Ashlyn to pick him up and take him to school. 

Caleb groaned. “Why does she have to be here? I always get bored trying to stay quiet while she sleeps.”

“She is here because I can’t be here.” 

“You could just let me be here by myself. I would be fine until you got home.”

Ali rolled her eyes. “Yeah. That’s not going to happen.” About that time Ali heard the door to the apartment open and Ashlyn call out.

“There she is. Get your backpack and go.”

“Fine.” Caleb said with a little more attitude then Ali liked. 

Ali resisted smacking the kid on the back of the head when he walked by her and instead pulled him into her side. “Have a good day. I love you.” Ali said as she hugged her brother tight.

Caleb sighed as he looked up to the defender. “Love you too.” He mumbled before pulling out of her embrace and walking towards Ashlyn standing at the door of the apartment.

Ali followed him and immediately went to Ashlyn. “Good morning.” Ali said with a bright smile and gave the cop a brief kiss.

“Good morning to you too, beautiful. I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too. I’ll make sure to cook your favorite tonight for dinner.”

“Sounds amazing. Now I better go get him to school. Have a good day in class.” Ashlyn said before giving Ali one more kiss and heading out the door with Caleb.

~~ 

Ashlyn woke up around 4 in the afternoon. She groaned and stretched as she laid in Ali’s bed. She listened for the sound of Caleb’s video games but didn’t hear anything. She slowly got out of bed and walked to Caleb’s room to see if he was doing homework. When she noticed the boy’s room was empty she thought it was strange, and when she noticed Caleb also wasn’t in the living room or kitchen Ashlyn began to panic. 

“Caleb!?” She called out just to make sure he wasn’t in the apartment.

When she didn’t get a response it only took her a minute to put shoes on and grab her keys before heading out of the apartment. She immediately started calling the boy’s cellphone as she made her way to the parking lot to get in her jeep. She didn’t even have to reach her jeep before she spotted Caleb in the parking lot with a group of boys. What she saw next made her see red. Ashlyn stormed towards the group and didn’t even bother announcing herself before she had a hand gripping Caleb’s arm tightly and her other hand ripping the cigarette out of his hand.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Ashlyn yelled. She didn’t wait for Caleb to answer, she kept a firm grip on his arm as she turned to the other boys. “Cigarettes on the ground. Right Now. Don’t make me tell you twice.” Ashlyn demanded.

All of the boys dropped theirs and smothered them with their shoes. “I want the packs also. Drop them.” 

None of the boys moved and that just made Ashlyn angrier. “I don’t know if your little friend Caleb here told you, but I’m his sister’s girlfriend…and I am a D.C. Police Officer and former petty officer of the United States Navy. If you know what’s good for you then you will drop everything you have. Right now.” 

Two of the older boys immediately pulled packs of cigarettes out of their pockets and dropped them on the ground. “Good.” Ashlyn said sternly. “Now here is what’s going to happen. All of you will leave and I will never see you with Caleb again. If I do see you with Caleb again, I will search all of you and if I find one single thing on you that you shouldn’t have I will take you down to the station and call each of your parents. Now beat it.”

All of the boys ran off and Ashlyn turned to Caleb. “You had no right to do that!” Caleb yelled at Ashlyn as soon as his friends were gone. “You’re not my mother and neither is Ali! They were my friends and now I probably won’t see them again. I HATE YOU!”

“I don’t fucking care what you think of me, kid!” Ashlyn yelled back. “I care about protecting you, whether you want me to or not. So get your ass in that apartment right now!” 

Caleb didn’t bother to retaliate before he was running towards the elevator to go up to the apartment. Ashlyn watched him until he was on the elevator to make sure he didn’t run away before she turned to the cigarettes that had been dropped on the ground. She picked up the packs and opened them to see how many cigarettes were left inside. One pack was almost empty. Another pack was full. And what shocked Ash the most was when she opened the third pack and found several rolled up joints inside. Ashlyn was now beyond furious with the boy she had just sent upstairs.

~~ 

“Hey, Baby!” Ali said happily as she walked through the door but her smile quickly faded as she saw the serious look on her girlfriend’s face.

“We need to talk.” Ashlyn said as calmly as she could.

“Is everything ok? Where’s Caleb?” Ali asked in concern when she didn’t see her brother in the living room. 

“Caleb is in his room.” Ashlyn answered. “And no, everything is not ok.” Ashlyn then pointed to the coffee table in the middle of the living room. “I got to meet Caleb’s friends today and let’s just say it didn’t go well.”

Ali walked over to the table and saw the packs of cigarettes and upon closer inspection she saw that Ashlyn had the pack open that contained the joints. “What? What is this?” 

“When I woke up Caleb still wasn’t home. I, of course, panicked, and as I reached the parking lot to get in my jeep to go look for him I found him and his friends out there smoking cigarettes. I made the other kids give me everything they had and told them not to hang around Caleb anymore. After they had ran off is when I noticed they also had weed on them!” 

Ali shook her head and covered her mouth as she attempted not to cry. “He’s 12 years old. This shouldn’t be the kind of stuff that he’s involved in. I had no clue. I should have known.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Alex. I’m around him just as much as you and I didn’t dream he would be doing this shit, and I’m the cop! It will be ok. I think I scared off his friends pretty good, but now he hates me.” Ashlyn said, obviously a little disappointed.

Ali’s eyes hardened as she started walking towards Caleb’s room. “Well, he’s about to hate me too. Give me some time alone with him.” Ali said as she roughly pushed the door open to Caleb’s room and Ashlyn could immediately hear her start to yell.

~~ ~~ 

Ashlyn called Ali the next morning around 6:30. She had left last night to go into work and she didn’t get to tell Ali bye because she was still talking to Caleb. The blonde imagined that it must had been a rough night for the siblings when Ali answered the phone in a tired voice. 

“You ok?” 

“Probably going to skip class to be honest. I think I need a day to myself after Caleb goes to school.” Ali admitted.

“Well that’s probably a good thing because I was calling to tell you that I’m going to be a little late and can’t take Caleb to school this morning. I kind of got caught up looking into something.”

Ali sighed. “Ok, I’ll take him. Thanks for letting me know.”

“Of course. Are you sure you’re ok, baby?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.” 

Ashlyn didn’t believe her for a second. “I won’t be too long. How about you meet me at the coffee shop across from the station for breakfast? We can talk a little bit.”

“Ok.” Ali agreed through a yawn.

~~

Ash walked into the coffee shop to see her very tired looking girlfriend sitting at a table with two cups of coffee and two muffins. 

“Hey beautiful.” Ashlyn greeted as she came up to Ali and gave her a quick kiss before sitting down across the table from her. 

“Hey.” Ali said quietly.

“You ok?” Ash asked as she reached to take one of Ali’s hands in hers.

“Yeah, I’m ok. Last night was just rough. I wish you could have stayed.” Ali admitted.

Ashlyn sighed. “I wish I could have too. I felt bad leaving you to deal with that.”

“You had to work, its fine. What held you up this morning?”

“Well I had brought the weed that Caleb’s friends had to the station. I wanted to see if I could trace it to any known dealers. See what kind of people Caleb’s friends are involved with.”

“Ex-friends.” Ali said seriously. 

“Right.” Ashlyn agreed. “Ex-friends. Anyway, I was able to trace it. It’s coming from a relatively new source. We don’t have much information on them. So there is not much I can do right now except keep Caleb away from those friends.”

Ali shook her head. “I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Didn’t you say that Kyle wanted to come visit?” 

Ali nodded.

“I think you should call him and tell him what happened. Maybe Caleb needs some big brother time.” 

“I think you might be right. I’ll call him tonight.”

“Sounds good. So what are you doing for the rest of the day?” Ashlyn asked.

Ali shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably just lounge around. I didn’t really sleep well last night.”

“Why don’t you come back to my place and sleep with me for a little while? I wouldn’t mind being able to hold you while I sleep.”

“Mmmm, that sounds nice. I’ve missed just spending time with you.”

“Not as much as I’ve missed being with you….in more ways than one.” Ashlyn said as she wiggled her eyebrows.

Ali giggled. “Well then maybe we should get back to your place and take care of that.” The defender whispered seductively, and Ashlyn was up out of her seat within seconds.


	5. I Warned You

~~ ~~ Two Weeks Later ~~ ~~

Ali had showed a picture of her older brother to Ashlyn so the blonde would be able to find him in the crowd at the airport. Ali had to be in class and Ashlyn had a few days off as her and Nickels prepared to be put back on day shift so she offered to pick Kyle up.

She noticed Kyle almost immediately. He looked so much like Ali that it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out they were brother and sister. 

“Hi. You’re Kyle, right?” Ashlyn asked as she approached the man that was around her age.

“I am. And you must be the famous Officer Harris that my sister is always gushing about.” He responded and held his hand out for a handshake.

Ashlyn took his hand and blushed slightly. “I am Officer Harris, but you can call me Ashlyn. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you also. It sounds like you’ve done a pretty good job taking care of my little siblings.”

“I’ve tried. Your brother is proving a little hard to handle.” Ashlyn admitted as they started to make their way out of the airport and headed towards her jeep.

“Yea, that’s what Ali tells me. So how long have you and my little sis been screwing anyway?” he asked rather bluntly.

Ashlyn’s eyes went wide at her girlfriend’s brother’s words. “Umm, we’ve been dating for around 2 months. Known each other for about 3.” She answered honestly, ignoring the comment about ‘screwing’. 

“Cool. I know I we just met, but I am glad you’re dating my sister. It brings me some relief to know that she’s got a cop looking after her and Caleb.”

“I try my best. I don’t want anything to happen to them.” Ashlyn answered sincerely.

Kyle just smiled and they headed back to Ali’s place.

~~ One Week Later ~~

“So how long is Kyle staying exactly?” Ashlyn questioned as she sat at the kitchen table with Ali as they drank their coffee. Kyle was still asleep on the couch and Ashlyn had come by early to spend some time with Ali before taking Caleb to school.

“I’m not sure exactly. He and Caleb have been spending a lot of time together after school. I think they are both enjoying their brother-time together.”

“Ok. I was just wondering. He’s been here for a while.”

“Yea, but it’s nice to have him around since you’ve been so busy.” Ali said with a pout.

Ashlyn slightly chuckled. “Yeah. Sorry about that. Been working on a big case.”

“What’s it about?” Ali asked curiously.

“You know I can’t tell you.” 

Ali sighed. “Fine. But do you think it will keep you busy much longer?”

“Unfortunately I think it will. It’s not going to be a quick solve.” Ashlyn admitted.

“Oh.” Ali said with a sad tone as she hung her head.

Ashlyn felt bad and reached to grab her girlfriend’s hand. “Hey, why don’t you ask Kyle to entertain Caleb without you tomorrow night? I can pick you up and take you to a nice dinner.” Then Ashlyn lowered her voice, “And maybe back to my place after dinner?”

A bright smile spread across the college student’s face. “That sounds great. I’m sure I can get Kyle to agree to that.”

“Perfect.” Ashlyn said as she leaned over to kiss Ali on the lips as she watched Caleb walk into the room with his backpack on, ready to go. “I’ll see you later. Have a good day.” Ashlyn said as she pecked Ali’s lips one more time.

“You too. Be safe.” Ali insisted before she also stood up and gave Caleb a hug and told him goodbye.

~~

“So you and my sister are going to do the nasty tonight?” Kyle commented as Ashlyn stood in the living room waiting for Ali to finish getting ready to go out.

Ashlyn shot the guy a look but Kyle just held his hands up innocently. “What? I’m just putting the pieces together. You and my sister haven’t had any alone time in the week that I’ve been here so I’m sure y’all are dying to get it on. And my sister said I would have Caleb ALL night, which I assumed meant that she would be with you all night.” He said with a wink.

Ashlyn playfully rolled her eyes. “I’m not about to talk to you about my sex life with your sister.”

Kyle laughed. “Understandable.” 

About that time Ali came out of her room and Ashlyn’s mouth dropped at the sight of her girlfriend. “Wow.” Ashlyn managed to get out as Ali walked towards her. 

Ali was wearing a tight fitting red dress that only went to her mid-thigh and black high-heels. It was the most that Ashlyn had ever seen her dressed up because they didn’t typically get to go on these types of dates.

“You look beautiful.” Ashlyn said as Ali finally reached her and the blonde didn’t even hesitate to immediately put her hands on the brunette’s waist and pull her in for a kiss.

“You look pretty spectacular yourself.” Ali commented as she took in Ashlyn’s appearance. The cop was wearing khaki pants, a navy blue button up with the sleeves rolled up and white skinny tie. 

“You ready to go?” Ashlyn asked.

“More than.” Ali responded before turning to her older brother who was sitting on the couch. “You know where everything is around here. Have fun with Caleb. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah. Have fun fucking your sexy girlfriend.” Kyle called and never took his focus away from the television show he was watching.

Ashlyn and Ali were enjoying themselves at the restaurant. Ashlyn was being her typical charming self and they had ordered the wine sampler, which meant the waiter was constantly bringing them a new wine to try. They both definitely had a buzz and were hoping to get their check soon so they could take their fun back to Ashlyn’s loft. 

“Let me run to the bathroom really quick and we can go soon.” Ali said and began to walk off.

Ashlyn smiled after her and watched her hips sway as she walked across the room. Ashlyn turned around with a dopey smile on her face and noticed the check had been set on the table while she was looking at Ali's ass. Ashlyn picked up the black book and opened it to look at the check. She was confused for a moment as she looked inside. The check was there, but there was also a note.

Officer Harris,   
I see you are enjoying a night with your girl.  
I know she and her brother must mean a lot to you.  
It would be a shame if you continued looking into my business  
and someone got hurt.

Ashlyn just stared at the note for a second and then looked around the room to see if she could spot anything, or anyone, unusual. When she didn’t see anything she took a deep breath and pulled the note out of the check book and put it in her pocket. She then got her wallet out and paid for the meal so she was ready to go when Ali got out of the bathroom.

~~ 

“You’ve been acting weird ever since we left the restaurant.” Ali commented as they laid in bed, completely breathless after they had both cum for the third time that night.

“Just got a lot on my mind.” Ashlyn commented.

“You sure you’re ok?” Ali asked in concern.

“I’m sure, baby. Just thinking about that case.” Ashlyn insisted as she kissed Ali’s forehead and pulled her in close as they both started to drift off to sleep.

~~ Monday Morning ~~

“What exactly am I looking at?” Henry asked as he held the note from the restaurant in his hands. 

“Friday night when I took Ali out that note got stuck in the book that they bring the check in. I’m being threatened.”

Nickels sighed. “Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that you are looking into the drug dealer that Caleb was involved with? Maybe that’s why they are attacking your relationship with Ali and Caleb. You've been looking into that pretty hard.”

“Caleb wasn’t actually involved! He was just hanging out with some friends that had it on them.” The blonde defended Caleb.

Henry shook his head. “I think you’re letting your feelings cloud your judgement. I know you don’t want to think that Caleb did anything really wrong, but there is a chance that he did, Harris. You're being threatened. He obviously was involved with some rough people.”

“He wouldn’t do anything that bad.” Ashlyn insisted.

“Ash, I think it’s time to turn over what you know to a detective. You don’t need to take any unnecessary risks after receiving a note like this.”

“I’ll turn it over to Detective Miller, but I’m not getting off this case. I’ll ask for us to be assigned to it.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I’m seeing this through. They can’t threaten the people I care about and think I’m going to give up.” Ashlyn said before grabbing the note and picking up the file she had started off her desk and heading towards the detectives’ offices. 

~~ 

“So what are the plans for this weekend?” Ashlyn asked Kyle and Ali as they sat in the kitchen while Caleb played a video game in the living room.

“Well I have to work a soccer camp with the team on Saturday.” Ali commented.

“Yeah and I’ll probably fly out on Sunday. Two weeks is enough time. I need to get back to L.A. and see about finding a fulltime job. I’ve only been doing a few random things to keep me going. I need to settle down a little.”

Ashlyn scrunched her eyebrows at the two siblings. Could they really have forgotten? “Ummm, so there is chance Caleb might have been lying to me, but he told me in the car this morning that his birthday is on Saturday. I asked what your plans were because I thought we would be doing something for him.”

Ali and Kyle’s eyes both went wide as they looked to each other. “Holy shit.” They said in unison. 

“I totally forgot! He’s turning 13. He’ll be a teenager and I totally forgot his birthday. I already told coach I would work that stupid camp!”

“Ok. Calm down. No reason to worry. Kyle and I can take him to do fun things during the day, like movies, bowling, or whatever. And then that night when you are finished with camp we can go out to eat wherever he wants and open presents.” 

Ali sighed and laid her head down on the table. “I am a horrible big sister. It’s his first birthday without our parents and I almost forgot it.”

“Hey, I forgot to. Don’t beat yourself up over it.” Kyle said as he patted his sister’s back.

“It’s different, Kyle. I’m the one who is in charge of him now. I’m the closest thing he has to a parent now and I don’t even have anything planned for his birthday!” Ali felt utterly defeated.

“Hey. It will be ok.” Ashlyn insisted. “Let’s go ahead and go to bed. We’ll go online and I’ll help you pick out presents for him.” 

Ali picked her head up and slightly smiled at the blonde. “You’re staying tonight?”

Ashlyn nodded. “If you want me too.”

Ali giggled and nodded her head enthusiastically.

Ashlyn just laughed at her and stood up, pulling the defender with her. “We’ll see you in the morning, Kyle. Good luck getting Caleb to stop playing video games on the couch so you can have your bed.”

Kyle chuckled. “Trust me. I can handle him.” He joked and flexed his muscles and the two women headed towards Ali’s bedroom. 

~~ ~~ Saturday ~~ ~~  
~~ With Ali ~~

“Alright girls! I need ages 5, 6, and 7 to follow me and Ms. Megan over to blue cones over there.” Ali called out and had all the girls follow her and Megan to their session while some of their other teammates took other age groups.

“Alright, munchkins.” Pinoe called out. “I’m going to call your names and make sure everyone is here. Raise your hand when I call your name.”

Ali just watched as Pinoe called all the names. She was trying to keep up with each girl’s name as it was called out. But she was distracted when she heard one name that Megan call out, “Hannah Nickels.”

Ali looked around and spotted the little girl raising her hand and immediately recognized her from the first time she met her. Ali had a huge smile on her face as she made her way towards the little girl when Pinoe was finished and they were starting their first drill. 

“Hey, Hannah. Do you remember me? I’m Ali. Ashlyn’s girlfriend.” 

“Ashy?!” The girl asked happily.

Ali nodded. “Yeah. She works with your daddy. Do you play a lot of soccer?” 

Hannah nodded, “My mommy plays with me.”

“Well, show me how good you are.” Ali said with a wink and gave the girl a high-five before joining Megan in helping to teach the group.

~~ 

It was the end of camp and Ali, Pinoe, and their group of young girls were all sitting around drinking water as they waited for parents to come and pick the kids up. Ali and Hannah had taken to each other very well by the end of the day. 

When Sarah walked up to get her daughter she was delightfully surprised to see Ali braiding the little girl’s hair as they talked about Disney princesses. 

“Hi.” Sarah said with a wave as she walked up.

“Hey, mommy!” Hannah said excitedly but stayed in Ali’s lap so the defender could finish her hair.

“Hey, sweetheart. Did you have fun?” 

“I did! Ashy’s girlfriend is the best soccer player ever!” she beamed. 

Sarah smiled and looked to Ali. “Ashlyn didn’t tell me that you would be here today.” 

Ali laughed. “She honestly probably didn’t put the pieces together to realize Hannah was coming to the camp that she knew I was working. But that’s Ash for you.”

Sarah giggled. “That is so true! Was she good today?” she asked, nodding down at her daughter.

“She was perfect. I think you and Henry have a future soccer star on your hands.” Ali said as she finished up Hannah’s braid and helped the little girl stand up so Ali could stand up also. “I know this is kind of last minute, but do you guys have plans for dinner?”

“Not really. What do you have in mind?”

“Well it’s my little brother’s birthday and I’m supposed to meet him, Ash, and my older brother for dinner at this pizza place that has an arcade. Would you all like to join?” Ali invited. 

Sarah smiled. “We would love too. Where and When?” 

“Jonny’s on Dover St. at 6 o’clock.”

“Sounds great. I’ll go back to the house and get Henry then we’ll head over there.” 

“Perfect.” Ali said with her nose-crinkling smile as she gave Hannah a high-five and then waved goodbye to the mother and daughter. 

~~ With Ashlyn, Caleb, and Kyle ~~

“So did you enjoy bowling?” Ashlyn asked as the three of them walked into the movie theater.

“Yeah. It was fun.” Caleb said in a non-interested tone.

Kyle was about to get on to him for being rude but Ashlyn just shrugged it off. The cop went up to buy three tickets for the newest action movie and some popcorn. What she didn’t see while she was doing this was a group of boys in the corner of the lobby catch Caleb’s attention.

“You ready?” Ash asked as she handed them their tickets and popcorn.

“Sure.” Caleb said, eager to get inside the theater before Ashlyn saw his friends. It was only about 5 minutes after the movie started that Caleb told his brother and Ashlyn that he had to go to the bathroom and exited the theater quietly. As soon as he was in the lobby, Caleb was being pushed against the wall.

“You’re still hanging out with that damn lesbian cop?” The biggest guy in the group, Danny, questioned. 

“She’s my sister’s girlfriend. I don’t have a choice.” Caleb replied.

“Yeah, well you aren’t even a part of us anymore and you’re still causing me trouble with her. She needs to back-off.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Caleb admitted as he winced in pain at one of the guys holding his arm a little too tight.

“Well let me fill you in. My dealer has some blonde cop on his tail, which now means I have an unhappy dealer on my tail because I choose to bring your scrawny little ass into this mess.”

“I – I can fix this.” Caleb stuttered.

“You’re a kid. What makes you think you would be any help to us? You’re the same age as my kid brother.” Danny replied as he motioned to his brother standing behind him that Caleb goes to school with. 

“Yeah, but I can help you with the cops! I’m with Officer Harris all the time.” Caleb pleaded. 

Danny turned to some of the older boys in the group and they all nodded before Danny signaled for the two guys holding Caleb to let him go. “Fine. Let me talk to my dealer and I’ll see how you can help.” 

The group then walked off and Caleb let out a sigh of relief before returning to the theater to finish the movie.

~~ ~~

Ashlyn, Kyle, and Caleb all walked into the pizza place to find Ali sitting at a table with the Nickels’ family, and much to Ashlyn’s delight Hannah was sitting in Ali’s lap and talking with the blonde’s girlfriend. 

“Hey! Well this is a surprise!” Ashlyn said as she came up to the table.  
“Ashy!” Hannah cheered as she reached her arms out to the cop.  
“Hey, princess.” Ashlyn said as she took her and gave her a kiss on the cheek before sitting down beside Ali with the six year old in her lap. 

Kyle and Caleb also took their seats. 

“What are all of yall doing here?” Ashlyn asked curiously.

“Well it turns out Hannah’s soccer camp today was the same one Ali was working.” Henry explained to his partner.

“That’s awesome! Did you have fun at camp?” Ashlyn asked Hannah.

Hannah nodded. “I did. Ali is the best.” 

Ashlyn smiled widely and looked to Ali. “You’re right she is the best.” She agreed as she gave her girlfriend a wink. 

The group sat around and ate pizza. Ali had informed the waiter that it was Caleb’s birthday so they brought out a piece of cake and sang happy birthday, much to the teenager’s embarrassment. 

“Can I have money to go play in the arcade?” Caleb asked as soon as he had stuffed the last bite of cake in his mouth.

Ali chuckled as she tossed a napkin at him so he could wipe the chocolate of his face. “Sure.” She said as she grabbed a five dollar bill out of her purse and passed it to him. “Take it to the cash register and ask for quarters.”

“Ok. Thanks!” he said quickly before running off. 

Ali rolled her eyes. “Keep an eye on him.” She instructed her older brother, and Kyle just saluted her before following after his little brother. 

Ali and Ashlyn stayed and talked with Sarah and Henry while Hannah finished the piece of cake that her parents had bought her. “Can we go play?” Ashlyn asked Sarah as soon as Hannah had taken her last bite.

All of the adults laughed. “Sure, big kid. Go right ahead.” Sarah agreed. 

Ashlyn cheered and raced Hannah to the arcade happily. 

Ali shook her head. “I’m dating a child.” 

“Yes, you are!” Henry quickly agreed and that caused all three of them to laugh. 

Ali looked over and saw Ashlyn and Hannah settled on one of those games were you drive the racecar. They looked absolutely adorable. 

“You want to go join them, don’t you?” Sarah asked with a knowing smile.

Ali bit her lip and blushed slightly before nodding.

Sarah giggled. “Go on and have fun. Us old folks will hold down the table.”

“Thanks!” Ali said with a bright smile before hurrying off towards the arcade. 

After over an hour of playing games the group was finally starting to tire out. Ali had just finished a dancing game when she turned around to find Ashlyn watching her while holding a very sleepy Hannah in her arms. Ali had a big smile on her face as she walked over to them, slipping her arms around the cop’s waist. 

“You all tired out, baby girl?” Ali asked Hannah.

The little girl nodded her head against Ashlyn’s shoulder and Ali gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Well you worked really hard at camp today. I’m kind of tired to.”

“I liked having you teach me.” Hannah admitted quietly. 

“Well maybe we can get together and play sometime.” Ali said as she moved a hand to rub the little girl’s back as she slowly drifted off to sleep Ashlyn’s arms. 

Ali looked up to the blonde and saw that she had a beaming smile. “What?” Ali asked with a giggle. 

Ashlyn leaned in and placed a kiss to the soccer player’s lips. “I love you.” She admitted breathlessly as she pulled back from the kiss.

Ali blushed and bit her bottom lip to keep the stupid grin off her face. “I love you too.” 

“Really?” Ashlyn asked in surprise that the brunette said it back.

“Really. You have been so great to me over the past couple of months, and I can’t wait to see where our relationship goes. I love you, Ashlyn Harris. I really really do.”

Ashlyn let out a sigh of relief. “Thank God. I wasn’t planning on telling you in a pizza arcade. Good thing it worked out.”

Ali giggled and moved to grab Ashlyn’s free hand that wasn’t holding Hannah to lead them back towards Sarah and Henry. “I don’t care where you told me. I’m just glad we feel the same way about each other.”

The trio reached the table and Henry immediately reached his arms out to take his sleeping daughter from Ashlyn. 

“Thanks for tiring her out, guys.” 

“No problem. We had fun.” Ali insisted as she wrapped an arm around Ashlyn’s waist and snuggled into her side.

Ashlyn slipped an arm around Ali’s shoulder and agreed with her. “Yeah, you should let us babysit more often.”

Sarah laughed. “We will definitely keep that in mind. We should be getting home. Tell Caleb we said happy birthday.”

“We will. Glad you all were able to come.” Ali said giving them a smile and a small wave as the family made their way out of the restaurant. 

“I really like them.” Ali commented as she sat down beside Ashlyn at the table. 

“I’m glad you do. Henry is a great guy, I’m lucky to have him as a partner. And I love Sarah and Hannah too. Honestly, every time we get into a dangerous situation in the field I find myself thinking that I would give anything to make sure Henry gets back to them safely. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happened to him.”

Ali nodded and took a moment to take in Ashlyn’s statement. Ashlyn had basically just admitted that she would die to protect Henry so he could make it home to his family. “Ash?” Ali asked in a small voice.

“Yea, babe?” Ashlyn responded as she looked away from the television in the corner that had caught her attention. 

“When you’re out there making sure Henry gets home to the people who love him, just remember that you have people who love you also. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” 

Ashlyn saw that Ali had a tear in her eye and leaned in to kiss Ali’s forehead. The cop was slowly realizing that Henry was no longer the only one with something to lose. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll do everything in my power to stay safe.”

“Good.” Ali said as she leaned into the blonde and just let her hold her for a moment. 

Kyle came up to the couple and plopped down beside them in exhaustion. “I’m getting to old for this stuff.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Ashlyn replied with a chuckle.

“I talked to Caleb.” Kyle informed them. “I talked to him about there being a history of drug addiction in our family and that I didn’t want to hear again of him getting in trouble with that shit.” 

Ali nodded. “Thank you.”

“So now I can go back home knowing that I did my best to help my little brother. I’m sorry I can’t be around all the time.”

“It’s ok. We’re surviving.” Ali assured him.

“I know you are. And it’s nice to know that you got Officer Harris around also.” Kyle said with a wink to blonde.

“Don’ worry. I’ll take care of them when you go back tomorrow.” Ashlyn promised.

“I’m counting on it.” Kyle said with a smile while he stood up to go get Caleb. “Let me go get the teenager so we can head home.” 

When they got outside to the parking lot of the pizza place, Ashlyn immediately noticed something wrong with her jeep. She reached it before the others and noticed all four of her tires had been slashed and the words, 'fuck off' had been spray-painted on the side. She immediately noticed a piece of paper shoved under the windshield wiper and grabbed it. It took her two seconds to realize it was a note and she quickly shoved it in her pocket before the other three reached her. 

“What happened?” Ali asked as she looked at the jeep in disbelief.

Ashlyn sighed and threw up her hands. “Probably some dumb kids looking to ruin someone’s night.”

“This is ridiculous. You should call the police.” Ali insisted.

Ashlyn began to laugh and slowly Caleb and Kyle joined in her laughter as they realized why she was laughing.

“What’s so funny? This is serious, Ashlyn.” Ali said with a hard stare at the three.

“I’m laughing because you told me to call the police and I am the police, Alex.”

Ali blushed and dipped her head. “Oops, forgot.” She said sheepishly. 

Ashlyn just chuckled and pulled Ali to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Why don’t you three go ahead and go home in Ali’s car. I was planning on staying at my place tonight anyway. I’ll call Henry and have him come help me and we can draw up a report tomorrow at work.”

Ali looked at her in concern. “You sure? I don’t want to just leave you here.” 

“I’ll be fine, babe. Henry and I will handle it.” She then went over and pulled Caleb into a side hug and used her free hand to mess up his hair. “Happy Birthday, dude.” 

Caleb just playfully pushed away from her. “Whatever.” He mumbled.

The adults all chuckled and said their goodbyes before they parted ways.

As soon as Ashlyn was alone she pulled the paper out of her pocket and read it. 

Officer Harris  
I warned you.  
Now it's personal.

Ashlyn looked at the short note and it puzzled her. Of course she hadn’t stopped looking into the case but she also hadn’t done anything for them to possibly know she was still looking. She shook her head and shoved the note back in her pocket as she got her phone out to call her partner.

Ashlyn got back to her loft that night and started going about her nightly routine when she heard her phone ring. She groaned as she saw it was a call from work but answered it anyway. “Hello?”

“Harris, this is Detective Miller.”

“What can I do for you, Sir?” 

“I wanted to tell you about a warehouse that my men and I raided a couple of hours ago.”

Ashlyn perked up at that. “What about it, Miller?”

“The tip was that it was a storage house for the trace of drugs that your kid had. We found out the dealer goes by the name of Rings, supposedly he wears several rings on one hand. We showed up and found a hell-a-lot more than pot, Harris. We're talking assault weapons.” The detective paused for a moment obviously thinking. “Look, I don’t know what your girl’s brother was into but make sure he stays the hell out of it. If Rings' already threatened you once then I can just imagine what he would do if he knew someone you cared about was still somewhere in his group. I’ll update you more when you come in tomorrow.”

Ashlyn took a deep breath and tried to get her thoughts together. “Ok, thanks for the warning.”

“No problem. Night, Harris.” He said before hanging up.

Ashlyn took a seat on her bed and took a deep breath as she looked at the note across the room that she had laid on her dresser. “Well that explains a lot.” She mumbled and groaned as she fell back onto her bed.


	6. It Was A Mistake

~~ A month and a half later ~~ 

“I’m bored. Why couldn’t I have stayed at home?” Caleb whined as he sat in a chair beside Ashlyn’s desk while she worked. 

“Because your sister had to go to a wedding shower for one of her teammates.” Ashlyn said without looking away from her computer. 

“I’m 13. I should be able to stay home alone.”

“You failed math last semester. You have to do that work this summer to make up for it.” Ashlyn said pointing to the pile of papers in front of the teenager. “Do you really think we trust you to do your work if no one is watching you?”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “You’re not my parent. Why does it matter to you anyway?”

“Because you and your sister matter to me. Now do your work and stop bugging me. If you don’t have at least two pages of work done by the time your sister comes to pick you up then I’m not taking you to that concert this weekend.” Ashlyn said firmly.

“You wouldn’t not go to the concert. It's Ali's birthday present.” Caleb said crossing his arms.

Ashlyn raised an eyebrow at him. “Who said Ali and I wouldn’t still go to the concert? I’m sure Officer Nickels and Sarah would love to watch you for the night. I bet Nickels could find some work for you to do around his house.” 

Caleb rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He said before flipping open his math book.

Ali came by the station about an hour later with a bag of two sandwiches in hand. “Hey baby.” Ali greeted as one of the officer’s working the front desk let Ali back into the office area. 

Ashlyn turned around with a smile. “Hey. Did you have fun?” 

Ali shrugged. “I guess so. Just reminds me that I’m getting old and all my friends are getting married.”

Ashlyn scoffed. “You’re turning 22 this weekend. You’re not old.” 

Ali giggled, “Oh yeah, I forgot you’re the elderly person in this situation.” 

“Excuse you. 25 isn’t old.” Ashlyn corrected her, about that time Henry walked up to his desk. “25 is especially not old when Nickels over there is 29!” 

Henry’s head popped up. “Hey, don’t bring my age into this.” 

Ali playfully rolled her eyes. “Whatever you two old folks. I brought you both sandwiches. Thanks for watching Caleb.” 

“No problem. And thank you for lunch.” Henry said and took the bag from Ali to start going though. 

“He says it’s no problem like he actually helped with Caleb.” Ashlyn huffed as she stood up from her chair and wrapped Ali up in her arms. “Thank you for lunch, baby.” She said and placed a sweet kiss to the defender’s lips. 

“Are we still coming over to your place tonight?” Ali asked.

“Yep. I’m cooking dinner. You just bring your pretty little self and that monster of a teenager that you call your brother.” 

Ali laughed and kissed Ashlyn one last time. “Sounds good. Bye, baby. Love you.” Ali said as she motioned for Caleb to get out of his seat and follow her out.

“Love you too!” Ashlyn called after her and watched the two leave the building. 

“You got it bad.” Henry teased as Ashlyn sat back in her seat and pulled out her own sandwich from the bag.

“Shut up.” Ashlyn said with a mouthful of her sandwich. 

“Harris, Nickels! Squad is moving out. We got details that Rings is doing a daytime drop at the park. It’s taking place in two hours. Be in the conference room in two minutes.” Detective Miller instructed them.  
Ashlyn and Henry both scrambled to their feet, grabbing their guns and jackets as they headed to the conference room to be briefed, Ashlyn shoving her sandwich in her mouth.

Ashlyn was nervously shaking her leg as she waited for the briefing to start. “You ok?” Henry asked.

Ashlyn nodded. “Yeah. I’ve just been helping Miller on this case ever since I busted Caleb and his friends. I’m ready to get this guy of the street if he’s even bringing kids into this mess. And he threatened me. He used Caleb and Ali to threaten me. That’s not ok.”

Henry nodded. “We’ll get him. I got your back, Harris.” He assured her.

Ashlyn just gave him a tight smile and turned her attention to the front of the room as Detective Miller walked in.

“As some of you know, Officer Harris brought this case to me a couple of months ago because pot was being dealt to minors. We now have suspicion to believe that this dealer is known as Rings, responsible for multi-million dollar firearm deals that are being made. We want everyone alive so we can trace back sources and get a handle on this. Now, Detective Franks will go over the operation details.” Miller informed the group. 

~~ 

“We have visual. The drop is being made.” Ashlyn and Henry heard over the radio in their police cruiser. They were stationed about a block away from the park. They would move in at the same time as the other officers when the undercover cop saw the deal actually going down. They had to catch them in the act.

There was a beat of silence before Miller’s command was heard over the radio, “Ok, all units move in.”

Within a matter of thirty seconds the park was being swarmed by police cars. They were barely out of their cars when gun shots rang out, but the shots weren’t just coming from the park, they were also coming from the back of the officers. They had been set up.

Ashlyn was using her door as a shield as she got a few shots off. One shot went blazing by her head and it caused her to drop for a second and take a breath. Everything was chaos and the blonde needed a moment to get her thoughts together. She looked to her side, through the open front seats of the car and could see Nickels doing the same thing that she was. They locked eyes for a moment and gave a nod before turning around and defending themselves. 

Ashlyn saw that she dropped one person, she couldn’t tell exactly where she hit him, but she doubted that she killed him. She was scoping the area when she saw a pair of eyes land on hers. The guy couldn’t be more than 17 and he looked familiar. It seemed to click in both her mind and his mind at the same time. The kid was Danny, one of the boys Ashlyn had seen with Caleb that day in the parking lot. Ashlyn knew she couldn’t shoot a kid. She dropped her weapon but that didn’t stop Danny from firing off multiple shots into the window that was keeping Ashlyn covered. Ashlyn ducked down as the glass shattered around her. 

~~ 

“We’re here!” Ali announced as her and Caleb came into Ashlyn’s apartment.

Ali could hear the blonde in the kitchen and made her way in there as Caleb settled comfortably on the couch and turned the tv on. “Hey, baby.” Ali said as she walked into the kitchen and saw the cop cooking at the stove. Ashlyn still hadn’t said anything to her so Ali makes her way behind her and wraps her arms around her so her front is pressed to Ashlyn’s back and puts her head on the cop's shoulder. 

Ashlyn immediately flinches in pain and Ali pulls away quickly.

“Ashlyn?” Ali questions and the blonde slowly turns around. 

Ali can suddenly see the little cuts that cover Ashlyn’s ears and neck. Ali doesn’t even ask permission before she moves to grab Ashlyn’s shirt and pulls the back of it up to see cuts on the top of Ashlyn’s back. “God, what happened?” Ali asked in disbelief.

Ashlyn bit her bottom lip in thought. She was wondering if it would actually be a good idea to tell her very worried girlfriend that her and her unit got in a full-blown gun fight that afternoon that sent two officers to the hospital with serious injuries. Ashlyn sighs after weighing her options and decides to answer, “The window of my police cruiser got shot out today and the glass kinda exploded on me. It just got my neck and shoulders because I ducked when I saw it coming and I was wearing a bullet proof vest.”

Ali’s eyes went wide. “You were shot at?!” she yelled.

Ashlyn nodded. “It was a bust gone wrong. It happens.” 

Ali shook her head and Ashlyn’s could see the tears forming in her eyes. “I just saw you at lunch. You were working at the station! You kissed me goodbye and told me that you loved me, and I had no clue you were about to get shot at!” 

“Alex, it’s my job. I didn’t know I was going to get shot at either, but I’m ok. I wasn’t shot. Don’t worry.” Ashlyn tried to soothe. 

“Don’t you dare tell me not to worry, Ashlyn Harris.” Ali seethed as she stepped back. “Am I the only one out of the two of us that understands that this afternoon could have been the last time I ever saw you alive?!” 

Ali was yelling so loud now that Caleb could hear them from the living room and got up to walk towards the kitchen to listen into the adults’ conversation. 

“I didn’t die, Ali! I’m fine. I have a few cuts! This is my job!”

“I don’t understand why I couldn’t have gotten a phone call! I don’t understand why I had to find you like this!” Ali yelled as she motioned to Ashlyn’s cuts.

“BECAUSE I WASN’T ACTUALLY SHOT, ALEX!” Ashlyn yelled loudly.

Caleb’s eyes went wide and he came into the kitchen. 

“Someone shot at you?” the two women heard come from the doorway behind them. 

They both sighed when they saw Caleb standing there. Caleb saw tears streaming down his sister’s face and went to give her a slight hug. 

“I’m ok, bud. Yes, someone shot at me. Yes, I probably should have called your sister and told her about it. But this is my job. It’s dangerous.” Ashlyn explained to the teenager but also looked to Ali with pleading eyes.

Ali wiped at her tears when she saw the sad look in her girlfriend’s eyes. She gave Caleb’s shoulders a squeeze before letting go of their hug and walking towards Ashlyn. “I’m sorry I yelled.” Ali said softly as she stood in front of the blonde. “I just got really scared that something might happen to you and I would never know when our last moment was our last. You’re my hero, Ash. I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to you.”

Ashlyn sighed and pulled Ali in close, placing a kiss to the top of her head. “It’s ok, baby. I’m right here. I’m safe.” She assured her and continued to hold her close.

Caleb just watched the scene in front of him and saw how his sister’s face immediately relaxed once she was in the blonde’s arms. Caleb had watched his dad suffer as his mom slowly died, and then his dad killed himself. Caleb couldn’t imagine if he lost Ali also because something happened to Ashlyn.

~~ Friday Night ~~

Caleb couldn’t believe that he had actually managed to sneak out of the apartment a little after midnight. Ali had gone to bed two hours ago, and he knew he only managed to pull it off because his sister’s girlfriend wasn’t spending the night that night. He made his way to the parking lot and only had to wait a minute or two before Danny and his crew came up. Danny had texted Caleb about wanting to meet and the boy was now nervous to give Danny any information that he had Ashlyn. Caleb just wanted to keep his sister happy, which meant keeping Ashlyn safe.

“Surprised you actually showed up.” Danny mused as he crossed his arms and stood in front of the much smaller boy.

“Didn’t figure I had a choice.” Caleb said with a bit of attitude. 

Danny smirked. “I ran into our little blonde cop friend the other day. She sure knows how to dodge a bullet.” 

Caleb’s eyes went wide, “That was you?! You can’t shoot her! You said that you wanted her off your dealer’s tail, that doesn’t require shooting her.” 

Danny immediately realized how defensive the young teenager was being, and he knew he had to play it right or he would lose Caleb and that would get him in trouble. “And what do you propose we do?” Danny asked.

Caleb shrugged. “I dunno. Just don’t hurt her. My sister couldn’t take that.” 

Danny nodded and moved to wrap an arm around the younger boy’s shoulder. “You love your sister, don’t ya?” 

Caleb nodded.

“I figured. Look, get me a chance to talk to blondie…off duty. My dealer doesn’t need her and her friends putting any more bullets in his guys. If I could just talk to her and scare her away from my dealer’s case then we’re golden. I won’t be in any trouble and your sister will get her girlfriend back safe and sound.” Danny reasoned with the kid.

Caleb looked apprehensive. “She doesn’t scare easy.” He warned.

“But I think you and I both know what the alternative is, Caleb. So, why don’t you tell me somewhere I could catch the blonde off duty?” 

Caleb thought on it a second and figured this was better than letting Danny’s boss get to Ashlyn some other way. “We are going to a concert tomorrow night at 8 o’clock. It’s at the stadium two blocks down on Elm St. We’re walking to it. She would be really cooperative and talk to you if Ali and I are with her. That’s your best bet to get her to listen to you about backing off.”

Danny smiled and patted Caleb on the shoulder. “I knew you were good for something, kid. Thanks for the info…I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night.” He said with a wink before walking off and everyone followed after him leaving Caleb alone. 

~~ ~~

“Alex! Let’s go!” Ashlyn calls out from the living room couch that she and Caleb are on. She is currently beating the teenager at his favorite video game as they wait for Ali to finish getting dressed for the Maroon 5 concert.

“Gosh, I’m right here. You think you would be a little more patient with me seeing as it’s MY birthday weekend.” Ali huffed as she walked in slipping on her last shoe.

Ashlyn rolled her eyes and turned the video game off as she stood from the couch. “You’re right. It is your birthday weekend, which means I don’t want you to be late for your birthday present.”

Ali giggled and went up to the blonde to give her a sweet kiss. “I love you.” She said into Ashlyn’s lips.

“I love you too.” Ashlyn replied and gave Ali one more kiss. “But now we need to go.”

“Fine. Let’s go.” The brunette said taking Ash’s hand and leading the cop and Caleb out the door. 

Caleb was almost visibly nervous as they made their way to the sidewalk and started walking towards the concert. He knew Danny could be anywhere and Caleb just hoped that Ashlyn would listen to Danny. If Ashlyn resisted then that could cause trouble. 

“Caleb, come up here and walk with us.” Ashlyn called to the teenager walking behind her and Ali as they held hands down the street.

“Oh, yes, because it would increase my street cred to walk down the sidewalk with my lesbian moms.” He teased as he caught up to them on his sister’s side and grabbed Ali’s free hand.

Ali and Ashlyn both chuckled knowing he was teasing when he said, ‘lesbian moms.’

“Awww look, baby, he’s even holding my hand. He really does love us.” Ali teased as she showed the blonde her and her brother’s intertwined hands. 

“I can’t believe it.” Ashlyn said in fake disbelief.

Caleb just gave a small smile knowing that the two women had no idea that he was holding Ali’s hand to make sure he could pull her out of the way of Danny. Neither woman knew that Caleb really did love them, Ashlyn had become like another sister to him. He was doing what was best for the blonde, he just hopes that Ashlyn doesn’t do anything stupid.

“Officer Harris.” The trio hears come from behind them, and Caleb takes a deep breath as they all turn around. 

There are about 6 guys but the only one from Danny’s crew was Danny himself. The rest were a group of older guys probably in their late twenties. Ashlyn recognized a few of them from the deal the other day in the park, most importantly she recognizes the kid who had shot at her. “What do you want?” Ashlyn asked, recognizing the man that stood in front of the group from the picture that hangs on the bulletin board at the station.

Rings shrugged. “I think you know what I want, Harris. I warned you. I thought you were smart enough to listen.” 

Caleb’s eyes go wide when he sees that Danny is not in charge of this situation, the 13 year-old suddenly sees that it was a mistake to think Danny would just simply talk to the blonde and he curses himself for being so stupid.

Ashlyn squeezes Ali’s hand for a second before letting go. She looks over and gives Caleb a look that Caleb interprets as him needing to take his sister away. Caleb begins tugging on Ali’s arm, trying to get her away from the situation but Ali fights it. She doesn’t understand what’s going on.

“Ash?” Ali questions but Ashlyn ignores her.

Ashlyn walks closer to the men and stops in front of Rings. “You have my attention. What do you want now?” 

The man smirks. “Well I wanted you to stop, but instead one of my guys is dead and another is severely injured because you decided not to drop it. You had to protect your girlfriend’s little brother, boohoo he got into drugs. He’s a teenager, it happens. You should have just let it go, Harris. Because I need to send a message to your whole department.” He then pulls a gun from his jacket and points it at the blonde. 

Ashlyn knows its coming and she hears Ali yell out to her right as three gunshots rang through the air.


	7. I Can't Do It Anymore

All three shots are fired into Ashlyn's body, and Caleb doesn’t have time to process what’s going on before his sister is jerking her hand out of his and running towards Ashlyn’s body that has fallen to the ground.

With Ali rushing towards Ashlyn’s side, Caleb rushes towards Danny pushing him as hard as he can. “You said you were going to talk to her!” Caleb yelled. “She wasn’t supposed to get hurt!” 

Danny shrugged, “Sorry, kid.” He said before running after the group of men who had quickly fled the scene.

Caleb turned and watched his sister frantically apply pressure to one of the cop’s wounds as a crowd gathers around them. Caleb can see several people on their cellphones and assumes they must be calling 911.

“Ashlyn? Baby, talk to me! How are you feeling?” Ali asks as she holds pressure to a chest wound and doesn’t have enough hands to keep pressure on the other two.

“I feel like I can’t breathe.” Ash chokes out.

Ali nods and offers her a weak smile. “I know, baby, but someone will be here to help you soon.”

Ashlyn nodded the best she could. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be your hero, Alex. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep Caleb out of trouble. I tried. I really tried.” Ashlyn breathed out as she tried to keep her eyes open.

“I know, baby. I know you tried.” Ali cried as she caressed the blonde’s face as they waited for an ambulance. 

Ashlyn’s eyes finally closed and Ali started screaming at her and shaking her. “No, Ashlyn! Stay awake, baby! PLEASE STAY AWAKE!” Ali’s tears were falling fast as she could finally hear the sirens in the distance. She put her forehead to Ashlyn’s and kissed the cops face repeatedly as she whispered how much she loved her. “You’re my hero, Ashlyn. You’re my hero.” She whispered as the ambulance and police officers all came to a quick stop beside them. Ali was pulled away by a police officer that was trying to calm her down as the paramedics went to work on the blonde. 

~~ 

Ali sat in the waiting room with Sarah, Henry, and a sleeping Hannah. Henry had been informed of the shooting by the police department and had immediately called Ali. Sarah had brought some her own clothes that would fit Ali so the college student could change out of her clothes that we soaked in her girlfriend’s blood. Caleb had been taken to a private room in the hospital to talk to Detective Miller. 

“We got in a fight the other night.” Ali said in a whisper as Sarah sat beside her. “We got in a fight because she was shot at when she was at work and didn’t tell me. I never, in a million years, would have guessed that she would have been shot while we were walking down the street together.” She let out a sob in disbelief.

Sarah reached over and held the younger woman. She didn’t know how to comfort her, Henry had been on the job for years and nothing this serious had ever happened to him. 

“She’s a fighter, Ali. She’s the strongest woman I know.”

Ali nodded and wiped at her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked down the corridor where they had walked Caleb off to earlier. “I can’t believe he had something to do with this. I just don’t understand. I don’t understand any of it.” 

“Sometimes these things just don’t make sense, Ali.” Henry weakly offered. 

They all sat there in silence for a minute before Ali’s eyes went wide. “Oh my god, I need to call her parents!” she said in a panic. She had never personally met the blonde’s parents but had been with Ashlyn a few times when she facetimed them and was able to talk to them. Ali immediately started going through the few things of Ashlyn’s that she had and found the cop’s cellphone. Sarah reached out and put her hand on Ali’s shaking hand as she tried to find the courage to find their number in Ashlyn’s phone.

“Let Henry call.” Sarah insisted. “You have too much on your mind right now to be able to explain to them what’s going on.”

Ali looked to Henry. “Would you?” 

Henry nodded and passed a sleeping Hannah to his wife and took Ashlyn’s phone before walking off to call his partner’s family.

Ali slumped into her chair and took a deep breath before seeing Caleb walk down the hall towards her with Detective Miller by his side.

Ali stood as they got closer and Caleb immediately ran into her arms. She could tell that the boy had been crying and she held him closely and kissed the top of his head. She looked up to meet the Detective’s eyes, silently questioning him. Miller gave her a sad look and shook his head, the boy had unknowingly set the blonde up to be murdered. 

“Go sit by Sarah for a minute while I talk to the detective.” Ali whispered to him as she gave him a squeeze and then guided him towards the chairs and then walked a little ways down the hall with Miller.

“Any news on Officer Harris?” the detective asked first.

Ali shook her head. “No, the nurse was only able to tell me that they are still in surgery.”

Miller sighed. “I’m sorry to hear it. She’s a great officer. I’ve enjoyed getting to know her over the past year that she’s been with us.”

“Thank you.” Ali said in a small voice before letting her eyes trail back to her brother who was sitting beside Sarah and Hannah with his head in his hands, his shoulders visibly shaking as he cried. “What’s going to happen to Caleb?” 

“He told me everything he knew. Which should help our investigation. He didn’t do anything that we would criminally charge him. I think his real problem is going to be with you and Officer Harris. He told his friend Danny that the three of you would be walking to the concert tonight. He knew that Danny wanted to supposedly talk to Ashlyn to make her get off of his dealer’s case. Turns out your brother trusted his friend a little too much.”

Ali had to fight not to break out in tears. “He set Ashlyn up?” she asked in disbelief.

Detective Miller placed a gentle hand on the brunette’s shoulder. “He didn’t know what he was doing. He’s just a kid. He couldn’t have predicted that they were coming to kill her.” 

Ali let the tears break through and the Detective pulled her into a tight hug and held her while she cried. Caleb heard his sister and looked up to see her sobbing against the Detective. He walked up to them and put a hand to his sister’s back. 

Ali looked to him and saw how sorry his eyes looked and let go of the detective to pull Caleb into her and they both cried. Miller gave a sad smile before walking off to go finish up his notes. 

“I’m sorry, Alex. I’m so sorry. I thought I was saving her from them doing something really bad. Danny said he just wanted to talk to her.” 

Ali nodded and continued to hold him. “I know you didn’t mean for her to get hurt, baby. I know.” Ali tried to soothe him.

The two siblings just stood in the hall for a few minutes holding each other until a surgeon came through the double doors of the hallway and walked towards them. 

“You’re here for Officer Harris, correct?” The surgeon asked as she approached them. 

Ali nodded and kept a tight hold on to her brother as she braced herself for bad news. 

“Is she alive?” Ali quickly asked, not being able to wait for the Doctor to tell her bad news.

The doctor gave her a small smile and nodded. “She’s alive.” The doctor confirmed and Ali let out a huge sigh of relief and gave Caleb a big hug.

“Thank god.” Ali whispered. “How bad is it?” 

“Well, as you know, Officer Harris suffered three direct gun shots to the chest and abdominal area. The shot to her chest hit her sternum, completely shattering it. We were able to repair that and ended up putting a plate in. Another bullet penetrated her lung. This was a tricky repair but we believe we have her lung stabilized and we currently have her on a ventilator, her status in the coming days will depend on how long she will need the ventilator. The third bullet is what has caused us the most of our problems.” The doctor admitted sadly.

“What kind of problems?”

The doctor sighed and motioned over to the chairs beside them and all three of them took a seat. “The third bullet was found lodged in Officer Harris’ spinal cord, between vertebrae t8 and t9. It severed some nerves that we were not able to repair.”

Ali’s eyes went wide. “She has an injury to her spinal cord?!” she asked in shock.

The doctor nodded. “We will not be able to fully asses the injuries until Officer Harris wakes, but at this moment we do believe she will be paralyzed from the waist down.”

Ali couldn’t contain the gasp and inevitable sob that came from her mouth. Caleb didn’t say anything as he stood from his seat and took off down the hall. Ali almost got up to catch him when she saw Henry round the corner from talking to Ashlyn’s family and he grabbed the teenager by the arm and began talking to him.

Ali sighed and turned back to the surgeon. “When can I see her?”

“We are moving her to a room now. A nurse will take you to her when she’s settled. I imagine she will wake up in a few hours. When she does the ventilator might be extremely uncomfortable to her, you will need to make sure she doesn’t try to talk or pull it out.”

Ali nodded taking in the instructions. “Ok.” She said softly. 

The doctor put a comforting hand on top of Ali’s. “It’s going to be hard, but she’ll be ok. The hospital offers some great support groups for those who have found themselves paralyzed.”

Ali nodded and the doctor walked off to let her have a moment to herself. 

~~ ~~ 

Ali was sitting by Ashlyn, taking in her pale complexion and the ventilator leading into her mouth and down her throat. Ali shook her head and wiped a few tears that fell. She had left Caleb with Sarah and Henry who had chosen to take the teenager home with them so they could all get some sleep. They figured Ali also needed some time alone to process everything. Henry had informed her that Ashlyn’s parents and brother were planning on getting here as soon as possible from Florida, and Ali took comfort that Ashlyn would have her family here to process things with.

Her guilt was eating away at her. She knew that Ashlyn would never had been in this situation if she hadn’t have been so nice to her and Caleb when she first caught Caleb skipping school almost 5 months ago. Ali picked up her phone and dialed the only person she wanted to talk to at the moment as she looked at her girlfriend in a hospital bed. 

“Hello?” a tired voice answered.

“Hey, Kyle.” Ali managed to weakly get out.

Kyle could immediately tell something was wrong with his sister. “Alex, you're calling in the middle of the night. What’s wrong?” 

“I need you to come to D.C….I need you to take Caleb. I can’t do it anymore.” She sobbed out.

Kyle’s eyes went wide. “Ok, baby girl. Explain to me what happened. What’s wrong?”

“She got shot! She’s probably paralyzed! And it’s because of me. Because of me and bringing Caleb’s mess into her life. I have to take care of her now and I can’t handle Caleb also. Just come get him.” Ali said, not even trying to stop her tears and little bit of anger. 

Kyle was beyond confused. “Shot? Ashlyn was shot?!” 

“Yes! Caleb let his friends know where we were going to be last night and they showed up to KILL her. And it’s because she tried to HELP our brother that they even wanted to kill her, and Caleb just led them right to her. He had good intentions, he thought he would be saving Ashlyn, but that’s not what happened. Now I need to focus on Ashlyn, so I need you to come get Caleb. Please, Kyle. I’m begging you. I can't do this anymore.” 

“Ok.” Kyle said calmly. “I’ll get there as soon as I can. I promise.” 

Ali let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” She whispered out. 

Ali hung up with Kyle and watched Ashlyn for a minute. She had been out of surgery for almost 6 hours and still hadn’t woken up. The nurse who had come in to check on her said that this wasn’t unusual and that Ashlyn’s body had been through a lot and would wake up when she’s ready.

Ali reached out and grabbed her hand. “Hey, baby.” Ali whispered out to her. “I know you aren’t feeling to well so it’s ok if you just want to sleep for right now…Henry called your parents. They are on their way. And I know you’re not going to want me to worry about taking care of you, but I am Ashlyn. I’m going to take care of you no matter what. You’re in this mess because of me and Caleb and I feel so bad about that, baby. I love you so much and I just want to show you how much I love you.” Ali couldn’t hold back the tears that came streaming down her face as she continued to hold onto Ashlyn’s hand.


	8. Communicating

~~ Three Days Later ~~

“Hey guys.” Kyle greeted softly as he walked into the hospital room carrying a bag of food with Caleb right behind him carrying another bag. 

Ali was still seated in the chair beside Ashlyn’s bed, Kyle hadn’t seen her leave the blonde’s side since he got their two days ago. Both of Ashlyn’s parents were sitting on the small couch that was underneath the window, and Chris was in a chair that a nurse had brought in for him. 

“We brought you all something to eat.” He said holding up the bag in his hand. 

Ashlyn’s mom, Tammye, smiled and stood up to help Kyle go through the bags that he set on the table at the end of Ashlyn’s bed. “Thank you, sweetie.” She responded kindly.

Kyle nodded but he saw his sister wince at the words of her girlfriend’s mother. She couldn’t stand that Ashlyn’s family was being so nice to her family. It physically pained the college student that the family wasn’t mad or upset that their daughter had been shot because of Ali’s little brother. Ashlyn should have woken up days ago but instead her health was declining and the doctor’s weren’t sure when she would wake up…if ever. 

Chris stood from his chair and grabbed a hamburger that his mom offered to him. “Thanks for the food, dude.” He said with a slap to Kyle’s back before putting a more gentle hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “I need some fresh air. I think I’m going to go across the street to the park to eat. Do you want to join me?” Chris asked the teenager. 

Caleb looked up at Chris in surprise. Caleb had come every day, literally worried sick about Ashlyn as he had vomited the first two times that he had come to see her. But ever since Ashlyn’s family got there he avoided eye contact with them and usually kept his head down. He hadn’t spoken more than a handful of words to Kyle or Ali either. 

“You coming or what?” Chris said with a chuckle as he walked towards the door. Caleb just followed after him without saying a word. 

Ali and Kyle both looked at their brother join Chris in shock. Neither one of them expected for the teenager to go.

“He’s a quiet kid.” Ashlyn’s dad, Mike, said as the door closed behind the two.

“He’s usually a little more talkative. I think he’s pretty shaken up over everything.” Kyle commented, knowing that his sister hadn’t said anything about Caleb or the shooting to Ashlyn’s parents. Henry had come and explained everything to the Harris family. Ali and Kyle were both surprised that after hearing about Caleb’s involvement the Harris’ still didn’t seem to hold any hard feeling towards the teenager or Ali.

“I imagine.” Tammye said with a small giggle. “I remember calling Ashlyn about a week ago. She picked up the phone and I could tell she was out of breath and I could hear Caleb yelling in the background. I asked what they were doing and she said they were playing a video game! That girl is such a child sometimes. It doesn’t surprise me that she enjoys being around Caleb.”

Ali shook her head as she looked at Ashlyn’s almost lifeless body. “He was horrible to her at first, honestly he’s not much better now. She tried so hard to be there for him. I don’t know what I would have done without her…I don’t know what I would do now without her. I need her to be ok.” 

Tammye gave a sad smile and walked over to Ali and pulled her into a hug. “It will be ok, sweetheart. She’ll wake up soon.”

“Why are you so nice to me and my brothers?” Ali asked in disbelief as she let the older woman hug her. “We’re the reason Ash got shot. She was looking into that dealer because of MY little brother. I don’t deserve for you all to be so nice.” 

“Oh, Ali.” Tammye said softly as she rubbed the girl’s back. “It doesn’t matter. None of that matters. My daughter loves you, she told me so herself. And she loves Caleb. I know if she was awake then she would be telling you that it’s ok. Your brother didn’t shoot her. A criminal shot her. She’s a police officer, and before that she was in the Navy. I learned several years ago that my daughter will do anything and everything to serve her country and her community. She faced a criminal and was shot, that doesn’t have anything to do with you or your brother. My daughter loves you and your family and that means that we love you and your family.”

“Thank you.” Ali whispered to her and squeezed her tight. 

Tammye went back to her seat and Mike turned on the tv in the room to watch a baseball game as they all ate their lunch.

Chris and Caleb eventually came back to the room and Caleb even attempted to be a part of the group’s conversation. Ali and Kyle weren't sure what Chris and Caleb might have talked about but it seemed to really help the teenager.

“Kyle, why don’t you take Caleb home now?” Ali suggested after they had been there for almost four hours.

“I don’t want to go.” Caleb insisted.

“You can’t stay in the hospital all day. Make Kyle take you to the skate park or something. Go be outside, that’s what teenage boys should be doing.” Mike told the boy with a grin.

Caleb opened his mouth to reply when Ashlyn’s doctor walked in. “Good afternoon, everybody.” He greeted as he shook Mike’s hand and gave everyone else a pleasant smile. “I see our patient is still not awake.” He stated with a sad look in his eyes but a smile still on his face. “I was hoping that I could speak to you all, but maybe we should do it privately in my office.” He suggested as he nodded his head towards the door.

Tammye, Mike, and Chris all got up and started to head out of the room but Tammye stopped short when she noticed Ali wasn’t walking with them. “Aren’t you coming, sweetheart?” she asked the college student.

Ali perked up at her question. “It’s ok if I come?” she asked to make sure.

Tammye nodded. “Of course, Alexandra.” Ali didn’t have to be told again before she was quickly following Ashlyn’s family out of the room leaving Caleb and Kyle with Ashlyn’s still form.

15 minutes later and the four adults still hadn’t come back. “I wonder what’s taking so long.” Caleb said curiously. 

Kyle was wondering the same thing but was keeping his thoughts to himself. A conversation this long with a doctor can’t be good. “I was thinking the same thing. I think I’m going to go check on them. You stay here.” Kyle said as he stood from his chair and walked out of the room.

Caleb just sighed as he watched his older brother walk out. He took a glance at Ashlyn before turning his attention back to tv in the corner of the room, but his attention quickly snapped back to Ashlyn and he immediately stood to go to her side. “Ash?” he asked softly. He could have sworn that he saw her fingers move.

He grabbed her hand and looked at her closely. “Ashlyn? Are you awake?” Caleb felt the blonde’s hand squeeze his before her eyes slowly fluttered open. Caleb’s own eyes went wide in shock and he barely missed the IVs, cords, and ventilator attached to her as he gave her a hug and started to sob into her shoulder.

Ash’s eyes were wide in shock and confusion. She quickly realized she had a tube down her throat and couldn’t talk. She let her eyes scan what they could of the room as the teenage boy clung to her and she noticed Ali wasn’t at there. She slightly moved her hand enough to pat Caleb’s side to get his attention. He quickly pulled back out of fear that he was hurting her. 

“Oh, crap! I’m so sorry, Ash. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He said with tears still streaming down his face and his words held a double meaning. He had been so afraid that something would happen to Ashlyn and he would never be able to apologize for what he did.

Ashlyn thought it was nice that the boy was being so considerate but she was getting frustrated with not being able to tell him to go get an adult. The ventilator down her throat was becoming more and more uncomfortable by the second. She used the little strength that she had to point to the “nurse call” button on the side of her bed, hoping that Caleb would get the message.

“Oh, yeah!” Caleb said and quickly pressed the button for the cop and then just held her hand as they waited for someone to come. 

A nurse came in a minute later and was shocked to see Ashlyn awake. “Oh my god! I’ll go get the doctor.” She said quickly and ran off. It didn’t take a minute for the doctor, Ashlyn’s family, Ali, and Kyle to come running back into the room. Caleb stepped back and let the doctor and nurse assess Ashlyn and eventually remove the ventilator. 

“Now it might hurt to talk.” The doctor explained to Ashlyn after her throat was clear from all tubes. “You’ve been on a ventilator for several days. Just take your time.”

Ashlyn nodded and then looked to all of her loved ones standing back watching her and the doctor. Her eyes connected with Ali’s and she held her hand out to her the best she could.

Ali burst into tears at the motion and quickly ran to Ashlyn’s side, taking the blonde’s hand and giving her a gentle kiss on the lips. “Oh my god, baby, you scared me so bad.” Ali admitted. “I love you so much and I’m just so glad you are awake.”

Ashlyn smiled softly and attempted to croak out her own words but wasn't audible. 

“It’s ok, baby. Don’t strain yourself. Your parents and Chris are here.” Ali said as she nodded her head in their direction. 

Ashlyn’s family took that as their cue to come closer and each give Ashlyn a kiss on the cheek and said some encouraging words to her. 

After everyone had stepped back, except Ali who hadn’t let go of her girlfriend’s hand, the Doctor spoke again. “Officer Harris, you have some pretty extensive injuries that we will need to assess now that you are awake, but we will start all of that tomorrow. Spend time with your family for the rest of today and rest. Tomorrow will probably be very tiring for you.” He instructed her.

Ashlyn nodded and everyone said their goodbyes to him as he left the room. Everyone stayed around for a long time, no one wanting to leave now that Ashlyn was awake and able to slightly communicate with them.

Eventually Ali was able to convince Ashlyn’s family to go to Ashlyn’s loft for the night to get some rest. Much like Ali, none of them had really left since they got there. She also sent Kyle and Caleb on their way, promising Caleb that he could come back in the morning. 

Ashlyn and Ali settled into a comfortable silence holding hands and simply looking at each other. Ashlyn managed to roughly communicate that she wanted a sip of water for her aching throat and Ali held up a glass with a straw to her girlfriend’s lips. Ashlyn sighed contently as the cool liquid soothed her throat. She had avoided trying to ask any major questions with her family around, but now that it was just her and Ali, she asked what she had been thinking about almost since she woke up. She motioned for Ali to give her the pen and paper that she had been using to communicate with and Ali happily handed it to her.

Ashlyn scribbled out her question and handed the paper to Ali.

Ali’s smile dropped as she looked at question that she held in her hand.

‘Why can’t I feel my legs?’


	9. Let Me Make It Easy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back from the World Cup so I decided to hurry and get this out to you guys! Last chapter before an epilogue. Hope you enjoy :)

“How are you feeling after therapy, baby?” Ali asked as she walked into Ashlyn’s hospital room after she had gotten a good night's sleep and a shower. It had been two days since Ashlyn woke up, and after a difficult conversation about the injury to her back, Ashlyn seemed to be taking everything in stride. She didn’t really talk much about her injury with Ali even though the college student had tried desperately to get her to open up.

“Tired.” The cop let out with a small smile and lifted her arm to indicate she wanted Ali to take her hand. 

Ali took her hand and gave her a smile back. She remembered the conversation she had with Kyle that morning and wanted to tell Ashlyn about how Caleb would be leaving with Kyle in two days to go live in California for a while. “Are you too tired to talk?” Ali asked as she sat on the edge of the bed that her girlfriend was laying in.

“No. I’m good. I actually had something I wanted to talk to you about also.” The blonde admitted. 

“Ok. You go first.” Ali insisted knowing that her news would require a lot of discussion.

Ashlyn sighed and squeezed Ali’s hand. “I was talking to my parents last night after you and the guys left.”

Ali nodded not sure where this was going. “And what did you talk about?” 

“Well, I have disability insurance. It’s something I got years ago when I first joined the Navy incase anything happened to me. I mean, sure the Navy and the Police Department compensates people who are injured on the job but I got the insurance policy to supplement things in case I was ever injured.”

“Ok?” Ali said with an eyebrow raised in confusion. 

“So what I’m trying to say is that I’m going to be ok financially since I can’t really go back to work. And my parents thought it might be best if I sell my loft and go home with them so they can take care of me.” 

Ali’s eyes went wide. “Wha – What?” Ali questioned in disbelief. 

“My parents are willing to take care of me.” Ashlyn said with as little as emotion as possible. She knew that this could potentially end her relationship with Ali if that is what the soccer player wanted. 

Ali just stared at the injured cop in disbelief and couldn’t say a word.

Ashlyn sighed and squeezed Ali’s hand lightly. “It will be easier this way, Alex. You won’t feel like you have to take care of me. It will give you freedom to go and do whatever you want to do. It will let you really focus on Caleb. I think he needs it. Being in a serious committed relationship right now won’t be easy for either one of us. I think my parents are right and I should go with them.”

Anger flashed in Ali’s eyes as she quickly let go of her girlfriend’s hand and stood from the bed. “Are you breaking up with me?!” she seethed.

Ashlyn’s eyes went wide and she fumbled with her words. “I…I love you, Ali, but-”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, Ashlyn Harris. I love you. I love you with everything in me. The past week has been hell for me and you can’t possibly understand it. I don’t care what your parents think. Tell me what you think! Do you want to leave me? Is this want you want? Because you do not get to walk away from our relationship because it might not be easy, Ashlyn! That’s not how this works!” the brunette yelled and she didn’t care if the people in the room beside them could hear. 

Ashlyn flinched at her girlfriend’s choice of words. “Don’t worry, I can’t walk away from anything!” she yelled back in frustration and picked up a water bottle on the bedside table and chunked it at the opposite wall.   
Ali stepped back in slight fear as she saw the blonde’s hands clinch into a fist. She knew Ashlyn couldn’t and wouldn’t hurt her but it didn’t stop her from keeping her distance from the cop. 

“Ashlyn.” Ali whispered out slowly as she watched Ashlyn try to calm herself. The blonde’s face was contorted in pain from having thrown the water bottle so suddenly. 

“Are you ok?” Ali asked after a minute of no response and she took a step back towards her girlfriend. 

Ashlyn let out a humorless laugh. “What the fuck do you think?” 

Ali swallowed hard and tried to keep her tears at bay. “I don’t deserve for you to talk to me like that.”

Ashlyn sighed and lifted a hand to rub at her face. “Sorry.” She mumbled out.

Ali sat in the chair beside the bed, the same chair she had occupied since Ashlyn was shot, but she didn’t reach out to Ashlyn like she usually did. “I came here to tell you that Kyle was taking Caleb to live with him in Los Angles. I was going to tell you how much I still love you. How I wanted to take care of you. How I was hoping it would be ok if I got rid of my apartment and moved in with you to make things easier. I had a whole speech planned out and you decide to break up with.” Ali told the blonde and tried to keep her emotions out of her voice.

“I wasn’t breaking up with you, Alex. I was giving you an out. I’m a paralyzed navy veteran and police officer. I don’t exactly have anything to fall back on. I’m not really suitable to build a life with!”

“See, that’s what hurts, Ashlyn. The fact that you thought you needed to give me an out AND that I would take it. When I said I love you I meant it. Love isn’t situational. My dad did a really shitty thing when he killed himself after my mom died. He left behind three kids and I know my mom wouldn’t have been happy with him. But he did teach me to love unconditionally. He loved my mom from the second she got sick and he loved her so much that he rather take his own life than live without her. When I told you that I love you I meant that I love you the way my dad loved my mom. That’s what love means to me, Ashlyn. I had hoped you knew that.”

Ali looked up at the blonde after her heartfelt confession and they both had tears in their eyes. “I love you. I love you like that, Ali. I just don’t know what’s best for anyone. I can’t make these decisions. You just told me that you are letting Kyle take Caleb so you can care for me. That’s a lot to ask of you. But at the same time, I’m a grown woman and I don’t feel its right to ask my parents to spend their retirement years looking after their paralyzed daughter. I just have no fucking idea what to do, Alex, and it scares me.”

“Let me make it easy for you.” Ali said as she took the cop’s hand and brushed her thumb over her knuckles. “I love you. I will take care of you. I will graduate college next year and get a job. And if you let me, I will marry you. I will have babies with you. I will spend the rest of my life in complete and total bliss because I am spending it with you. And you being in a wheelchair will make no difference to me. There is no decision to be made. You and I are meant to be together. You’re my hero and you always will be.”

Ashlyn smiled and squeezed Ali’s hand. “What about Caleb?” 

Ali sighed and also squeezed the blonde’s hand back. “You being paralyzed didn’t have much to do with that decision. That was a decision I made simply because of the situation that Caleb was in that made you get shot. Caleb needs more than I can offer at the moment.” 

“And Kyle can offer him what he needs?” Ashlyn asked skeptically. 

“I don’t know if Kyle or military school is the answer, but I’m trying Kyle first.” Ali teased and they both laughed. 

“I don’t deserve you, Alexandra Krieger.” Ashlyn said after a moment of admiring her girlfriend’s beautiful smile. 

Ali shook her head. “You deserve the world, baby. You deserve the world.” She whispered as she leaned in to give the blonde a passionate kiss.


	10. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last one for this story, guys! Hope to get back to work on my other story I have in progress and maybe do some fun little updates on past stories before I move on to doing anything new. 
> 
> Any specific story you guys would like to see a follow up chapter too? Also feel free to shoot me some ideas for whatever story you chose.

~~ Seven Years Later ~~

Caleb stepped out of the cab and grabbed his bag after the cab driver had pulled up in front of his sister’s house. He slipped his hat back onto his head to make his uniform complete before taking his wallet out and paying the driver. He nodded a thanks and watched the cab pull off before he turned back to the house. He smiled at the well-kept yard, he couldn’t imagine his sister-in-law would have it kept any differently, although he is sure that the toys scattered around the flower beds probably drove the blonde crazy. 

The now tall, twenty year old man grabbed his bag off the ground before walking towards the front door of the house. He let his hands slide against the wooden rail of the ramp that lead to the front door. He remembers all of the memories made in this house. Ali and Ashlyn had bought it shortly after Caleb came back to live with them to finish out his last two years of high school. Ashlyn had immediately wrangled the teenage boy into helping her do all of the work around the house that needed to be done to accommodate her wheelchair, including building the ramp that he was currently walking up.

He didn’t even bother to knock as he came into the house. He knew that this was his home and that he was always welcomed. He smiled and took in a deep breath as he walked into the house and set his bag by the door. It was already good to be home and he hadn’t even seen his family yet. Caleb had barely walked into the living room when he was spotted by a little three year old boy, a mirror image of Ali, who came running at him full speed. 

“Uncle Caleb!” he cheered as he crashed into the man’s leg.

Caleb smiled and picked the boy up in his strong arms. “Hey buddy, I missed you.” He said as he placed a quick kiss to his forehead.   
“Missed you too.” The boy responded quickly as he grabbed the sailor’s cap off of his Uncle’s head and quickly put it on his own. 

Caleb chuckled and set the boy down. “Where are your moms, Jam?” 

“Kitchen.” He said quickly said before running over to the couch and tuning back into the television show he had been watching.

Caleb made his way towards the kitchen and paused as he came to the door. He watched as Ali and Ashlyn moved effortlessly around each other as they cooked. Ali was cooking something on the stove and Ashlyn was cutting up vegetables on the counter. Fortunately, Ashlyn didn’t make Caleb do all of the work in the kitchen and instead hired a contractor to remodel the kitchen to adapt it for her limited mobility. 

He was still standing there in the doorway, watching the two women he respected most in the world, when his very pregnant sister turned around and spotted him. 

Ali’s face immediately lit with a smile and she rushed as quickly as she could to embrace him in a hug. “Oh my god. I’ve missed you so much.” She whispered into his ear and she held him tight.

Caleb returned the hug until he saw his sister-in-law wheel herself beside them in order to greet him. He pulled away slightly which only caused Ali to grab his arms and examine him in his uniform. 

“Awww, look at him, Ash.” Ali gushed. “He looks so handsome in his Navy uniform.”

Ashlyn rolled her eyes as Caleb blushed and she held her hand out to shake the seaman’s hand. Caleb gave her a firm handshake before leaning in for a proper hug. 

“How was it?” Ashlyn asked him, referring to the last month that he had spent on a ship in the middle of the pacific. 

“Let’s just say I’m glad to be back on land.” Caleb responded and all three of the adults laughed. “But I want to hear about how things are around here!” he said excitedly. He then placed a hand of the seven month swell of his sister’s belly, “And I want to know if you’ve picked out a name for my little niece yet.”

Ali smiled adoringly at her little brother, proud of the man he had become. She cursed Ashlyn at first when she had suggested to an 18 year old Caleb that the military might be a good life choice, but now, two years later, she sees the wonders that Navy life has done for the once troublesome teen. “No name yet.” She admitted. “But I do have a paint color picked out for the nursery. Maybe you could help Ashlyn out with it this weekend.” 

“I would love too.” He said with a smile right as his nephew came running into the kitchen.

Ali and Ashlyn both turned to see their son slide to a stop wearing his uncle’s hat and a beaming smile. “Mommy, I’m hungry.” He informed Ali.

“We will eat dinner in a few minutes. Why don’t you help Caleb set the table while Mama and I finish dinner?” Ali told him.

The three year old pouted and Ashlyn gave him a stern look. “James, do what your mother said or you can’t stay up and play with Uncle Caleb tonight.” 

Caleb had to stifle a smile behind his hand as he saw the little boy hang his head in disappointment. Caleb could see that Ashlyn was trying to be tough but was close to caving in at the look her son was giving her. He could already imagine how Ashlyn was going to be with a little girl that looked like Ali. He already knew that the poor blonde wouldn’t stand a chance against his future niece and she hadn’t even been born yet. 

“Come on, buddy. It won’t be so bad.” Caleb joined in as he grabbed the plates and silverware that Ali laid on the counter and started towards the table. The little boy reluctantly followed his uncle and helped by placing a napkin at each plate that Caleb put on the table. 

“He looks adorable in that sailor’s hat.” Ashlyn commented as she wheeled herself back beside her wife and started to help finish up the dinner. 

“Don’t get any ideas in your head, Harris. You already talked my brother into joining the Navy. I won’t let you talk my little boy into it also.” Ali said seemingly stern but ended with a quirky smile.

“Don’t worry. I would rather see my daughter fall in my footsteps. Women in the military are badass.” Ashlyn teased her wife with a smirk. 

Ali rolled her eyes. “Over my dead body.” She mumbled as she removed a pot from the stove and moved about getting the food ready to take to the table. 

Ashlyn just shook her head and chuckled at her wife.

~~ 

“Thanks for making my favorite meal, big sis.” Caleb said as he plopped down on the couch beside his sister and rested his head on her shoulder. He had just finished helping Ashlyn give James a bath and decided to come visit with his sister while the blonde tucked the boy into bed. 

“Well it’s not every day I get to make my sailor brother his favorite dinner. I’ve missed having you here. I can’t wait till you’re home for good.” Ali commented and kissed the top of Caleb’s head that was still resting on her shoulder. 

Caleb sighed and grabbed one of his sister’s hands to hold. “About that…” he started and moved his head so he could get a good look at his sister's reaction. The young man felt Ali tense and he gently rubbed her hand to calm her. 

“Why do I think I don’t want to hear what you have to say?” 

“Because you probably don’t.” Caleb admitted shyly. He always hated upsetting his sister, even more so when she was pregnant with his baby niece. He decided to not make her wait it out and just tell her. “I don’t think I’ll be leaving the Navy when my contract is up.” 

Ali sighed. She had figured this would happen. The reason Ashlyn had encouraged Caleb to join the Navy was because the boy couldn’t decide where he wanted to go to college or what he wanted to study. Ashlyn figured he could go into the Navy while he figured it out and then the military would eventually pay for his college. It didn't surprise Ali that two years later her brother still didn't want to go to college. 

“What about college?” Ali asked weakly, knowing what his answer would be.

“I don’t think college is for me.” He admitted. “I don’t really have any other interests, Al. I like the Navy. The Navy works for me. It gives me structure and stability. I think I would like to make a career out of it.” 

Ali nodded and tried to hide her tears. She gave her brother’s hand a squeeze and turned to face him. “What about us? Your family? I thought you would be coming home in a few years to go to college.”

Caleb gave her a small smile. “Alex, this is always home. You, Ashlyn, James, and my new little niece will always be home. You and Ash will always be my special kind of second parents. But you guys will be fine without me. You have been for the past two years since I joined the Navy. Ashlyn had to take us both in when she first met us. She went through hell for me, and her life still isn’t easy because of me, but she loved you. And her love for you seemed to erase all of my wrong doings. It's time that the two of you get to be free from worrying about me and just enjoy the family you are creating together. For seven years I’ve relied on the two of you and Kyle to take care of me. I think it’s time I take care of myself. It’s time to be the man that you and Ashlyn have taught me to be.” 

Caleb saw the tears in his sister’s eyes and pulled her in for a tight embrace. He held her for a moment before he heard Ashlyn clear her throat from behind them. They both turned to see her, tears threatening to spill from her own eyes. She wheeled herself in front of the couch and reached out to grab her emotional wife’s hand and then looked into Caleb’s eyes. “I’m proud of you.” She said simply, no other words seeming more appropriate. 

Caleb didn’t even hesitate before he moved from the couch to pull Ashlyn into his arms, picking the paralyzed woman up and dragging her back to the couch with him as he sat back down. He positioned Ashlyn awkwardly between himself and his sister and pulled both women into a hug. “You’re my hero, Ashlyn Harris.” He whispered into the blonde’s ear. “I wouldn’t be here without you.”


End file.
